We learned a lot about what is going on in the Samsung galaxy during their Q4 2012 earnings report earlier this week, but other than the record breaking sales of the Galaxy line and gross profits overall being up by 76 percent, there were some other words that caught our attention.
“The furious growth spurt seen in the global smartphone market last year is expected to be pacified by intensifying price competition, compounded by a slew of new products,” -Samsung- Q4 2012 Earnings Call
Samsung seems to be shifting gears from their top sellers like the Galaxy SIII(30 million units sold) and Galaxy Note II(5 million units sold) which have shouldered a lot of the growth in this quarter. We are seeing this shift moving to handsets that are earmarked for developing markets. Devices like the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos, a 5-inch low-resolution mid-ranger that just launched in India earlier this week. While Samsung posted $8.27 billion in operating profits, almost double last years same quarterly profits, they are warning investors to not expect the same growth in the first quarter of 2013.
“In the first quarter, demand for smartphones in developed countries is expected to decelerate, while their emerging counterparts will see their markets escalate with the introduction of more affordable smartphones and a bigger appetite for tablet PCs throughout the year,” -Samsung- Q4 2012 Earnings Call
With this warning to investors of an anticipated seasonal slow-down, this is right on par with the writing on the wall that we will not see a release of the Galaxy SIV until later than some of the earlier predictions and more towards the late April point that we reported.
This does not mean that Samsung or Android is going downhill. In fact, the biggest chunk of Samsung’s profits came directly from the sale of Android handsets. We do not see this stopping in the near future. Samsung will continue to release great Android products and the consumer will continue to find a way to buy them.
Other than maybe a few small announcements at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month and then Samsung’s own Unpacked Event that will most likely be held in March, don’t expect just a whole lot of news out of the market leader in Android handsets during the first quarter of 2013. It is OK though, to expect an explosion of sales with the release of the Galaxy SIV in Q2.
Source: The Telegraph (UK)