Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s top maker of smartphones, said Thursday its second-quarter net profit fell 19.5 percent from a year earlier after its mainstay handset business suffered a decline amid rising global competition.
Net income came to 6.25 trillion won ($6.1 billion) in the April-June period, compared with 7.77 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales fell 8.89 percent on-year to 52.35 trillion won in the second quarter. Its operating profit came to 7.19 trillion won, down 24.59 percent from the previous year.
It is the first time Samsung’s quarterly operating profit has fallen below the 8 trillion won mark since the second quarter of 2012, when it posted 6.46 trillion won in profit. The company said its IT and mobile business division’s weak earnings reflect fading demand for its smartphones and tablet PCs in the second quarter from the previous three-month period.