Samsung posts $5.9 bn operating profit in Q2

Samsung’s total handset sales for the same period stood at 89 million, down from 95 million a year ago, the company said. Samsung said those issues have since been resolved.

Shares of Samsung fell 3.8 percent to 1,215,000 won in Seoul.

Even after Samsung’s (KRX:005930) big unveiling of the Galaxy S6, a phone expected to turn around profits for the Korean electronics giant, the company suffered another downward trend in its latest earnings report. The company warned of “mounting challenges” as operating profit at Samsung’s mobile division slid 38 per cent to $2.4bn. Simply put, Samsung failed to predict how popular the Galaxy S6 Edge would be.

Just how large those cuts will be remains to be seen, but if you’re planning to buy a Galaxy S6 or S6 edge, you might want to hold off a bit longer to save a few bucks.

Samsung’s mobile division saw a 7.3 percent revenue decline from the June quarter of last year, reporting 25.5 trillion Korean won ($21.29 billion) down from the 27.51 trillion won ($23.43 billion) in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts estimate that the non-memory chip business logged its first quarterly profit in more than a year, though Samsung doesn’t break out details for the business unit.

Earlier iit was reported that Samsung had postponed the release of its much-awaited Galaxy Note 5 to August.

On the eve of phone’s release in April, however, many analysts wondered whether the features were enticing enough to convince buyers to upgrade from their existing Galaxy S5 phones, let alone spring for an S6 instead of a comparable smartphone from a competitor.

Samsung doubled its interim dividend to 1,000 won a share.

Sales fell 7% over a year earlier to 48.5tn won and operating income dropped 4% to 6.9tn won, in line with its earnings preview earlier this month. The company later added that it will be “adjusting” the price of its flagship smartphones to help shore up sales.

The company also said it will focus on maintaining strong high-end sales, with price adjustments of the Galaxy S6 smartphones and launch of new large-screen models.

The consumer-electronics division, which oversees TVs and home appliances, posted a 210 billion-won profit in the quarter from 770 billion won a year earlier.