Samsung’s reported net profit of 4.63 trillion won ($4.35 billion) for the January to March quarter was a 39% percent drop from the year ago quarter.
A sizable portion of the lost profit came from Samsung’s mobile division, which brought in 2.74 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in the first quarter of 2015, vs. 6.43 trillion won in the first quarter of 2014.
Samsung’s earning release, while showing a year-over-year profit loss, did show increased sales of mid-tier smartphones, including the Galaxy A series. Analysts believe Samsung sold 83.2 million smartphones during the quarter, while Apple sold an estimated 61.2 million.
Samsung regained its title of world’s largest smartphone maker, however many of those phones were lower-priced phones, and not their flagship Galaxy S phones. Much of the loss for Samsung can be blamed on Apple’s introduction of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus handsets, which competed with Samsung’s device in the larger screen arena for the first time.
Samsung expects to see increased profits in the second quarter, based on the strength of its semiconductor operations, and the launch of the new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.
