29 April 2013-Samsung Electronics Co said on Friday that its first quarter profit jumped to a record high as smartphone sales remained strong despite the April launch of an updated version of its flagship Galaxy phone. The South Korean handset maker launched the fourth generation of its Galaxy range of phones S4 in India at Rs 41,500.
Sales of consumer electronics usually slow in the first three months of the year after the holiday shopping season, an effect that analysts thought would be compounded by this month’s release of the Galaxy S4 since many delay buying until the newest model is available. Apple Inc has cited the upcoming release of a new iPhone as a reason for a slowdown in sales of older models.
Samsung grabbed more smartphone market share from arch-rival Apple in the latest quarter with sales of its phones jumping to account for one third of the global market, research firm IDC said. A flood of cheaper Android-powered devices from Samsung lifted its shipments about 60 per cent to 70.7 million giving it a 32.7 per cent of the market, up from 28.8 per cent a year earlier. During the first quarter, Samsung shipped more smartphones than the next four vendors combined, IDC said.
Samsung said that January-March net profit surged 42 per cent to $6.5 billion. The increase was despite booking a one-time charge against earnings related to settlement of its intellectual property battle with Apple. Sales rose 17 per cent to 52.9 trillion won. Operating profit was up 54 per cent to 8.8 trillion won in line with its preliminary results released earlier this month.
S4, which is packed with newer imaging features as well as ‘gesture-control’ technology, will be available at the company’s premium brand stores in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai from Saturday while pan-India availability will be in a couple of days. The S4 features a five-inch full HD super AMOLED touch screen, 13 mega pixel back and 2MP front camera and supports 3G networks.
