Samsung becomes second largest handset vendor
Published:16-July-2007
By BR staff writer
Samsung Electronics has overtaken Motorola as the world's second largest mobile handset vendor. It said it expects to increase shipments in the second quarter by 49% to 37.4 million units. By contrast, Motorola warned last week that shipments in the quarter will be down 35% to between 35 and 36 million units.
For the year as a whole, Samsung plans to increase handset shipments by 32% to 150 million units, which would give it a 13.3% share of a market that it estimates will total 1.13 billion units.
Assuming that Motorola, which does not expect to make a profit on its handset business this year, continues its decline, the Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung will be firmly established as the number-two vendor behind market leader Nokia.
With average selling prices of $148 was well down on the $167 a year ago, while the handset business increased sales by 5% to KRW 4.23tr ($4.6bn), the operating profit for its telecoms business as a whole was down 13% to KRW 350bn ($381m).
Samsung said the increase in shipments was due to strong sales of high-end products and mass models in emerging markets. Looking ahead, it said that emerging market demand in places such as China and India will sustain strong growth and it expects a 15% growth in 3G handsets.
Electronics conglomerate Samsung has had a tougher time in its chip operations, and excess capacity for memory left semiconductor sales down 4% in the quarter to KRW 4.26tr ($4.6bn), while operating profit plunged 67% to KRW 330bn ($362.6m).
