Samsung sells 72.4 million smartphones, mobile revenues up 54% in Q2

July 26, 2013

Samsung has sold 72.4 million smartphones, according to IDC. Its mobile sales revenue rose 54 percent to 34.58 trillion won in second quarter of 2013, Samsung said on Friday.

Samsung on Friday said profits at its mobile division, the biggest earnings generator, increased 52 percent to 6.28 trillion won from a year ago but fell 3.5 percent from the previous quarter.

The reporting period included the launch of its flagship Galaxy S4 in April, backed by a massive advertising campaign, in Samsung’s biggest assault yet on rival Apple iPhone. Samsung during this period spent more on marketing than research and development (R&D).

Samsung’s Q2 net profit rose 49.6 percent to 7.77 trillion won (US$6.96 billion) in the April-June period, compared with a profit of 5.19 trillion won a year earlier.

Revenue increased 20.7 percent on-year to 57.46 trillion won in the second quarter and operating profit rose 47.5 percent to 9.53 trillion won.

Samsung on Friday attributed the stronger profit to strong sales of its flagship mobile devices — Galaxy S smartphones — and demand for electronics products and higher chip prices.

Uncertain Future

Samsung said global smartphone sales growth may weaken in the third quarter and expected stiffer competition due to new product launches.

Samsung said its 2013 capital spending would rise by more than 1 trillion won to 24 trillion won this year from 2012, joining rivals seeking to boost output. It said it may further increase investment depending on market conditions.

Apple’s quarterly profit fell 22 percent and gross margins slid below 37 percent from more than 42 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Meanwhile, Strategy Analytics said on Friday that Samsung sold 76 million smartphones in the second quarter, expanding its market share to 33.1 percent.

Samsung does not share smartphone break up.

Strategy Analytics says the global smartphone market grew 47 percent to a record 229.6 million.

Second-ranked Apple saw its market share shrink to 13.6 percent after selling 31.2 million iPhones, as smaller rivals such as LG Electronics, ZTE and Huawei Technologies seized larger slices. The full report is expected later.

IDC said smartphone vendors shipped 237.9 million units in Q2 2013 compared to 156.2 million in Q2 2012, up 52.3 percent year-over-year. Second quarter shipments were up 10 percent when compared to 216.3 million units shipped in Q1 2013.

Samsung, thanks to Galaxy S4 launch, saw its volumes reach new levels and accounted for nearly a third of the entire smartphone market. Galaxy S III smartphones saw renewed interest following discounted prices in advance of the Galaxy S4 launch. Samsung more than doubled the total volumes of the next largest vendor, and shipped more units than the next four vendors combined.

Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, 2013 Q2 (Units in Millions)

Vendor	2Q13 Unit Shipments		2Q13 Market Share		2Q12 Unit Shipments		2Q12 Market Share		Year-over- year Change
Samsung	72	.4	30.4	%	50	.3	32.2	%	43.9	%
Apple	31	.2	13.1	%	26	.0	16.6	%	20.0	%
LG	12	.1	5.1	%	5	.8	3.7	%	108.6	%
Lenovo	11	.3	4.7	%	4	.9	3.1	%	130.6	%
ZTE	10	.1	4.2	%	6	.4	4.1	%	57.8	%
Others	100	.8	42.4	%	62	.8	40.2	%	60.5	%

Total	237	.9	100.0	%	156	.2	100.0	%	52.3	%