Samsung Could Lose Money On Smartphones For the First Time
- Reference: 0182458788
- News link: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/26/04/24/2048217/samsung-could-lose-money-on-smartphones-for-the-first-time
- Source link:
> Samsung boss TM Roh reportedly told company leaders that the mobile (MX) business could lose money this year. That warning has clearly rattled management. The MX unit has long been a key pillar for Samsung. That's why the idea of it slipping into the red is a serious concern for the company's overall performance.
>
> If this prediction holds, it would mark the first time the MX business reports a yearly loss since its inception. That's a sharp turn from its track record so far. It also raises bigger questions about future growth, rising competition, and how Samsung plans to steady the ship in its mobile division.
>
> And it's not like the challenges are easing up. Samsung's foldable market share in the US, where it currently enjoys a dominant position, doesn't look as solid as before, and Apple could shake things up if it [3]enters the segment . On top of that, market reports suggest Samsung's overall smartwatch share could dip in 2026. The Galaxy S26 series seems to be selling well for now, but whether that's enough to move the needle is still up in the air.
[1] https://www.mt.co.kr/industry/2026/04/22/2026042115433622701
[2] https://sammyguru.com/samsung-mx-could-lose-money-for-the-first-time-in-2026/
[3] https://apple.slashdot.org/story/26/04/09/0017250/apples-foldable-iphone-is-on-track-to-launch-in-september
Cost Of Information (Score:2)
"Assume the declining cost of information (COI) has driven economic activity for fifty years. Then the stagnation or increase of COI could be disasterous for the economy. The preceding graph shows an inflection point in Internet user growth, implying that Internet growth is slowing and will soon stagnate."
[1]https://www.scry.llc/2025/09/1... [scry.llc]
"Inflection Point: We could build a COI monitor by creating a weighted market basket of information-related costs and prices. Cost of microchip inputs versus their price. C
[1] https://www.scry.llc/2025/09/16/cost-of-information/
Apple will rule all (Score:2)
I haven't done this rant in a bit, so lets do it again ... this is the age of ecosystem and Apple has the only one not dragged down by advertising, so they win by default.
I'm too old and irrelevant to give a shit about privacy/opsec, but beyond the practical impact the datamining inherent in Android is just a bad look which hurts its high end attractiveness. It also doesn't really inspire licensees to be highly privacy focused, cause what’s the point? This is compounded by Google's historical mistake
Re: (Score:2)
Is it a case of Apple dominating, or Samsung not offering bang for buck over its Chinese competitors?
A decade ago, I was using second hand Galaxy S series for LineageOS support but that dream died when they ended user replaceable batteries.
My last 2 Androids have been Moto (Lenovo). So I would be intrigued about getting back into the customer ROM scene if GrapheneOS-Moto collaboration bears fruit.
Hollywood Math (Score:2)
Its all Hollywood accounting
Samsung is going to "lose money" on selling a smart phone, because Samsung had to pay Samsung more money for Samsung RAM/NAND.
They're just shuffling around profit centers.
That's a surprise (Score:2)
Everybody knows that Samsung is a company on fire that comes up with the most explosive products.
Mature technology (Score:4, Interesting)
There just is not as much room for profiteering in a market when the technology has matured.
Everyone already has a cellphone. The new ones are not much different from the ones they already have. The market will still have demand, but not at the previous rate.
Re: (Score:1)
How was Samsung profiteering?
Re: Mature technology (Score:2)
"Profiteering" usually means excessive profits collected in some nefarious way.
How does that apply to Samsung?
There's a lot of room for improvement in modems (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a lot of dead spots where I'm at and I'm on T-Mobile here in the states and their network is so so to say the least. It's really fast when you get a good connection and basically useless when you don't.
But switching from a mediatek based Motorola phone to a newer Qualcomm based phone was pretty much night and day in terms of signal quality, call quality and actually getting calls and texts. I had a couple of calls and texts I just didn't get on the old Motorola mediatek. I sometimes don't get the best call quality on the Qualcomm chip but I don't miss a call and worst case scenario I have to go to a different room to get decent call quality.
The Samsung modems aren't terrible if you have the very latest ones but the Qualcomm ones are still significantly better.
There is a lot of room for catch up among the Samsung and Mediatek chips in terms of modem quality. And apples home-built modems are kind of crap from what I've heard although I don't run Android.
The point being that if I want a decent Samsung phone with a good modem I have to splash out at least a thousand bucks for the one they make with the Qualcomm chips. This is especially annoying because I get a absurdly powerful CPU and GPU that I do fuck all with. Even my current phone has a ludicrously powerful CPU and gpu. The old Media tech had sufficient performance but again crappy modem.
I think this would be less of an issue if I was on Verizon or AT&t but they cost at least another 30 to $50 a month over what I'm paying now so that's right out.
I'm actually surprised that they don't push signal and call quality more as a feature. Again though I don't think it matters if you're on AT&t or Verizon it's more of a T-Mobile problem. And T-Mobile works well if you're out and about it's just that the signal that they have doesn't work as well inside of a building. Doesn't help that the room I spend most of my time is basically a dead zone
Still there is a lot of room for improvement. Also it feels like battery life could be improved. These companies keep pushing more and more raw performance and that's really at this point only of any use for gaming. I don't know maybe some of those CEO twits thought I was going to run AI models on my bloody phone...
Re: (Score:2)
[1]"Except Apple." [thestreet.com]
They are immune to the so-called laws of economics.
[1] https://www.thestreet.com/investing/apple-gets-a-stunning-boost-as-smartphone-rivals-stumble