Samsung Plans Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge Price Cut

Its mobile phone unit’s operating profit plummeted 37.6 percent year-over-year to 2.76 trillion won.

“The mobile business plans to firmly maintain its sale of premium smartphones by flexibly adjusting the price of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, and launching a new model with a larger screen”, the firm said.

The company said handset sales slipped 6.3 percent on-year in the second quarter to 89 million units, indicating that the Galaxy S6 series, which was launched in April, posted weak sales. Not only does it have to compete against cheaper high-end smartphones from the likes of Xiaomi, Motorola and OnePlus, it will also have to fend off Apple which will announce the latest additions to its iPhone range in September.

“In order to drive up the shipment, we will actively respond to the market, which could have a negative impact on our average sales price“, said Park Jin-Young, the company’s vice president of mobile communications, during a conference call with reporters.

The company’s components division was the one growth area in the quarter, with revenues up to KRW 17.87 trillion from KRW 16.23 trillion a year ago. Operating profit for the quarter was 2.8 trillion won, down about 38 percent on the same period of 2014.

The company said Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge sales were lower than expected. The sharp drop came very unexpectedly, coming right on the heels of the company’s double flagship smartphone launch: the Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S6 Edge.

Total sales for the quarter decreased 7 percent to 48.54 trillion won from last year’s 52.35 trillion won, but rose 3 percent from 47.12 trillion won in the prior quarter.

This was a decision made by the South Korean tech giant after releasing the profits report from April to June, according to PC World. Whether that will change with the S6’s price drop and Samsung’s upcoming phones remains to be seen. Samsung’s operating income stood at five.nine billion U.S. dollarscontinuing its steady recovery after a surprising earnings shock in the third quarter of past year.

Samsung was not able to leverage the time between the release of the Galaxy S6 and the launch of the new iPhone.