Samsung guidance for Q1 earnings: over 68 million phones sold

With Samsung expected to report its first quarter earnings on April 26, the Korean based tech titan has released its profit guidance for the period as is its custom. The company says it expects to report first quarter operating profits of 8.7 trillion won ($7.7 billion USD). A survey of 42 analysts had forecast that Samsung would report operating profits of $8.3 trillion won for the period. Sales of mid-range models led the way. Samsung should report 52 trillion won in sales for the quarter, below forecasts of 53 trillion won.

While the period ended a string of five consecutive record quarterly earnings, the current period is expected to do very well because it will include the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4. The company has over 30 models covering the low, middle and high end of the handset market which helped Samsung set a company record for the number of phones shipped in a single quarter to 68-70 million handsets, up from 63 million shipped in the prior quarter. Sammsung's top rival Apple is expected to report that its handset shipments dropped 30% during the same time period to about 30 million units. That would be a decline from the 47.8 million shipped in the prior quarter.

source: Reuters