Samsung profit margins said to have been highest around Galaxy Note II launch, slipping since then

With a huge pile of unsold Samsung smartphones on store shelves, the company has been forced to admit to a sobering 20% decline in net profits in the last quarter as earning shrank.
Turns out, smartphone margins over at Samsung peaked with the Galaxy Note II, a phablet released in late 2012. The peak occurred in the first quarter of 2013 when the smartphone division of the company operated at a 25% margin, according to analyst Mark Newman of Bernstein Research.
Smartphone margins over at Samsung peaked with the Galaxy Note II
Even worse, hopes to see flexible display technologies revitalize Samsung’s margins are dimmer now, according to analysts. However, with a gigantic sales network, Samsung has one obvious weapon - lower prices down further, a move that is very likely to shut the doors for the emerging waves of affordable smartphone from Chinese companies. The company is obviously in a need for some restructuring, but wouldn’t margins suffer from that, and is it really something that the company should do? We’re looking forward for your thoughts below.source: WSJ