Just a few months after releasing its flagship Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones, Samsung is expected to report that strong sales of those devices have contributed to its best quarterly earnings in over two years. The South Korean company is set to report its second-quarter financial results Thursday.
Samsung is also reportedly ready to launch another new Galaxy phone, the 5.5-inch Wide (pictured above), in its home market later this month. No details have yet been released on whether the Wide, priced at around $ 275, will be available in other markets.
New details, however, have apparently leaked out about another coming Samsung device, the Galaxy Note 7. India-based iGyaan reported today that according to an internal Samsung memo it had obtained, the Galaxy Note 7 will come with an improved S Pen stylus and updated Bluetooth LE.
Best Profits Since Early 2014
First released in March, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge became available in unlocked versions in the U.S. Thursday. The devices, priced at $ 670 and $ 770, offer water and dust resistant features as well as advanced dual-pixel camera technology, improved battery life and Samsung Knox mobile security.
The Galaxy S7 phones have seen “robust” sales that have generated second-quarter profits of $ 6.8 billion, Samsung’s best numbers since early 2014, according to a Thompson Reuters analyst survey released today. The report cited estimates placing Galaxy S7 shipments at around 16 million between April and June.
Although Samsung is the largest smartphone company in the world, the company has seen increased competition from Android firms based in China that offer less expensive devices. Samsung has also been struggling to boost the profitability of its mobile business.
Flexible Devices Could Shake Up Market
Samsung saw a year-over-year decline of 0.6 percent in global smartphone shipments, according to the most recent Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker from the analyst firm IDC, released in April. However, the report noted that early sales figures show the company’s bet on its new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge “looks to have paid off.”
Samsung’s U.S. sales have been particularly strong, according to the company’s new Sustainability Management Report. Released Sunday, the report shows that the United States accounted for 34 percent of the company’s global revenues in 2015 and sales in the U.S. are continuing to grow, while sales have dropped in Europe and China.
The company could also see a strong sales boost sometime next year, when it’s expected to release two new foldable smartphones. Samsung is planning to launch devices with flexible OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays, including a five-inch phone that can unfold into an eight-inch display, according to a report published last month by Bloomberg.
Samsung, along with LG, are generally considered the leading makers of flexible-display technologies. In addition to producing curved computer monitors and curved-screen TVs, Samsung has also recently demonstrated a prototype display with a rollable OLED screen.
Image Credit: Samsung/Flickr.
Glenn:
Posted: 2016-07-05 @ 2:58pm PT
I own a bunch of good phones. The S7 Edge is a near-perfect size; and I have big hands. I bought an LG V10 last fall when Samsung deleted the micro SDXC slot from the Note 5. I now need big storage wherever I may roam. Still have the Note 4 on my third active line and it remains a stellar performer. Looking forward to the Note 7 which is shaping-up to be the device of this still-young Century.
