Samsung’s consistent financial run over the last couple of years doesn’t seem to be gearing towards an end any time soon. According to figures quoted by KoreaTimes.co.kr, Sammy has sold no less than 41 million smartphones in Q1 2012, posting, at the same time, a record operating profit of 5.8 trillion Korean won ($5.15 billion).
The first of these two figures, while extremely impressive, is on-par with the predictions we reported a week ago. At that time, Samsung seemed to be heading towards quarterly sales of 40 to 44 million smartphones, so taking that into consideration, Sammy could have actually done a tad better.
On the other hand, you should not forget that we are dealing with estimates, so in reality things could actually be a bit different. I wouldn’t expect huge gaps between the estimated figures and the official ones, though. Moreover, we will probably never learn the official sales numbers, meaning that we will have to take Korea Times’ information as is.
Like I said, Samsung’s sales results don’t come as a huge shock for pretty much anybody, but the 45 trillion won operating profit can surely be described as a nice surprise. The estimates for the January-March period mark a 96.6% increase over the same period of last year, as well as a 9.4% gain over the previous quarter. That’s really something, especially considering that sales are usually weaker at the beginning of a year.
50 million smartphones in three months? It can be done, even without the Galaxy S3
After such a great year, with constant sales improvements and a huge profit boost, we have to ask ourselves where will Samsung be drawing the lines of success from now on. I mean, if they managed to sell 41 million smartphones in what is usually the slowest part of the year, where will they be going from here?
Our good colleague and friend Bogdan spoke about Samsung’s near future last week and said that the giant could sell as much as 50 million smartphones in the next three months if the S3 will be released anytime before June. Well, I’m willing to call his prediction and up the ante a bit, saying that Sammy can sell 50 million smartphones even without the Galaxy S3. What makes me say something as crazy-sounding as that? First of all, the Galaxy Note “phablet”, whose sales have been booming lately.
Secondly, it seems that Sammy has been doing a great job in the low-end and mid-range market niches over the past few months, so I suspect this to be going on for a little while longer. And thirdly, I’m basing my prediction on recent history, cold facts, and numbers.
Samsung has enjoyed sales grow rates of between 15% and 60% quarter over quarter, this past year. For example, in Q2 2011, Sammy sold 20.2 million smartphones, while in the following three months period, it sold no less than 28.1 million devices. From 28.1 million, the number quickly grew to 36.5 and now we have 41 million. To jump from 41 to 50 million, the Koreans would need a 21% increase. Is such an feat easy to achieve? Of course not. Can Sammy pull it off? I think it can, and I am willing to bet that it will, with or without the S3.
What do you guys think? Can Samsung continue to grow, even without the Galaxy S3’s launch before June? Is the sky the limit for Sammy or will their sales and profits drop soon enough? Hit us back with a comment and let us know your opinions on the subject!
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