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Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter

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Re: Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter

#101
Hmm, they keep making phones more expensive and taking away features that you used to get for free, like access to SD card and headphone jack so you have to pay more to them for a worse experience. I really want the fold, but it's still way too fucking expensive, even as a business expense, I just can't justify it, and the outer screen sizing was never fixed, so it's gimped. Do I need a folding phone? Not really, but I want one. I want something different and cool and a bigger screen on demand seems awesome. I played with 4 at Best Buy and was blown away. But yeah, priced stupidly. I'll just have to keep plugging away on my S9+ with the replaced battery that still supports my expensive wired ear buds and my free memory expansion.

Re: Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter

#102
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you had a small phone that could become big on demand, for enhanced content consumption or productivity tasks?

Personally, I'd just open my laptop or plug it into the desktop monitor. Like even a giant iPad with a keyboard isn't productive for me. I just use my phone to check messages, read the news, etc. If I want to do something useful, I just sit down at the ultrawide and use a real OS with like four times the memory. I played with those folding phones at the store last week and thought to myself "nah, just more shit to br…

> Personally, I'd just open my laptop or plug it into the desktop monitor.

Most of the world doesn't have a laptop and are not interested in getting one. Even more so when it comes to a desktop. But they would be thrilled about a device which is as easy to carry as a phone but can have as big a screen as an iPad when watching Youtube or reading news or doing a video chat. I can immediately think of at least 5-7 family members who would love this kind of device.

Re: Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter

#103
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like small phones. I dont want to have something larger that 5.5 inches in my pocket. Five years ago I bought a Sony xperia zx1 compact, due to its form factor. I've been looking for a new phone for about a year, but all of them are too big or under powered for my liking. To me, the alternative seems to be foldable phones. I'll probably buy a Motorola razr 40 in the coming weeks. Also, an iPhone is not a option.

Zenfone 9 should be a hair smaller than zx1, have you checked it out?

I have the zx1 _compact_: https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_xz1_compact-8610.php

Which is 129mm tall and has a 4.6 inches display.

Still, the Zenphone is about 15mm taller. I'll check it out. Thanks.

Re: Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter

#105
post #77
post #46

Serious question: how can a company recover from that and not go bankrupt? These seem like extraordinary numbers for the last half.

Profits =/= revenue For it to go bankrupt it would need to have negative profits, which means greater 100% drop in profits.

That’s not necessarily true though, the stock price is related to the company’s performance. Stock allows you to hire, pay for stuff, etc.

Re: Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter

#106
post #78
post #46

Serious question: how can a company recover from that and not go bankrupt? These seem like extraordinary numbers for the last half.

> It appears Samsung brought in a profit of 0.67 trillion ($523.5 million) Korean won (KRW), which is a drop in the bucket to the 14.12 trillion KRW ($11.06 billion) it made last year. Their profit was _only_ 500 million dolars, while previously was 11 billion dollars. That's still profit. And I dare to say good profit.

Is it though? That’s close to what some startups get as seed raising

Re: Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter

#107
Samsung could be suffering from a 'taint' problem.

For a Samsung phone, 'taint' an iPhone that would sell well in the anglophone world, and 'taint' a Chinese-branded phone that would sell well in China.

That leaves Samsung as a niche player trying to survive in a smaller market.

Re: Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter

#108
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you had a small phone that could become big on demand, for enhanced content consumption or productivity tasks?

Personally, I'd just open my laptop or plug it into the desktop monitor. Like even a giant iPad with a keyboard isn't productive for me. I just use my phone to check messages, read the news, etc. If I want to do something useful, I just sit down at the ultrawide and use a real OS with like four times the memory. I played with those folding phones at the store last week and thought to myself "nah, just more shit to br…

Personally, I'd just open my laptop

Exactly. I refuse to use my phone for everyday computing. The screen is too small and/or doesn't have enough pixels to display enough data at a time. I normally use a 4K screen.

I liken using a phone for everyday computing to be like using 'keyhole surgery' for surgery on the heart. You need to be able to see a job as a whole not just a tiny portion of it.

And don't get me started on how big and cumbersome today's phones are. I went though several decades where mobile phones shrank from being a heavy house brick to a 'chocolate bar' that fitted easily into a shirt pocket. Only for the progression to start going all the way back to today's monstrosities.

Re: Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter

#109

> Samsung is hoping the launch of its foldables will help level out these losses Very serious question: Who is asking for foldable phones? Who is saying, "You know what's missing from my phone? More moving parts! A huge hinge for crumbs to get stuck in! I just can't enjoy this app unless it's in a square form factor and a crease in the center!"

People don't want folding. Folding is the cost paid to get something they do want: a larger screen. What do people actually want in a handheld? They want that roll-out multi-size screen from Earth: Final Conflict.

OK, that was 1997, and it's been done better since then (Minority Report and others...: [1]). But people want the big screen with a tiny carry.

[1]: https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/14/18088620/samsung-foldabl...

Re: Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter

#110

It's interesting this article sounds like the issue is with their Android division, but other articles are painting an entirely different picture about the price of memory chips falling: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hyunsoorim/2023/07/26/samsung-p...

Samsung shifted focus from consumer electronics to semiconductor a few years ago which got fucked by global oversupply and then PRC sanctions (including memory) while PRC is increasingly eating into other Samsung segments like display, memory, battery etc. Samsung mobile got bump after Huawei ban, but now getting pressed by global economic downturn and Samsung in general losing access to PRC market who is starting to compete against Samsung in their other segments. More broadly PRC increasingly competing against SKR in intermediate goods, see SKR trade with PRC at 2000s lows which SKR is trying to make up by exporting more to US last few years and the drama over recent EV credit "betrayal". Recent geopolitics pushed SKR out of PRC market (due to current SKR admin siding with US interest) and US trying to support SKR by increasing imports to tune of 40B over last few years but there's going to be political limits to how much US can prop up SKR in current economy. Samsung mobile especially vunerable due to Apple influence on US market. Really at this point Samsung mobile only hope is for US to ban PRC Android from rest of world so they can snatch more marketshare.
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