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Samsung’s estimated third-quarter 2015 operating profit is expected to be about $6.3 billion, an increase of about 80 percent from the same quarter one year ago, based on forecasts from about 30 financial analysts.
The forecast and estimates were revealed Oct. 7 in a post on the Samsung Tomorrow blog, which also estimated Q3 sales at about $44.4 billion.
The forecasts are improvements over Samsung’s Q2 financials in July, which reported $41 billion in revenue—down 7 percent from $44.5 billion one year prior—and a net profit that dropped 8 percent to $4.9 billion from $5.3 billion in the second quarter of 2014.
The expected profit gain would be the first in two years for Samsung, according to an Oct. 7 report by Reuters. The increases are being inspired by favorable currency rates and strong component sales, even while its smartphone sales remain weak, the story reported.
The Samsung financial forecasts come from some 30 analysts whose figures were compiled by Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate.
“There were worries that overall earnings will continue falling as mobile profits declined, but now the numbers make the case that Samsung has the capacity to withstand weakness from the mobile business,” Lee Seung-woo, an IBK Securities analyst, told Reuters.
Samsung, the world’s largest maker of smartphones and memory chips, will deliver its full Q3 financial results later in October.
The company’s latest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the Galaxy Note 5 phablet, went on sale in August as extensions of existing flagship models introduced earlier by the company, with improved performance and a wide range of upgraded components and features. For the first time, the two devices also share the same basic platform, including the processor, RAM, cameras, battery power and more.
The latest S6 Edge+ and the Note 5 phablet arrived just four months after the long-awaited launch of the company’s redesigned Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones in April. Both the S6 Edge+ and the Note 5 include 5.7-inch quad HD Super AMOLED displays, 4GB of RAM—up 1GB from previous versions—and more powerful octa-core Exynos 7420 processors. Also included on both models are a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 5MP front camera with additional improvements such as a quick launch feature to capture photos faster with fewer finger taps to unlock the phones. The phones are available in 32GB and 64GB versions.
Samsung continues to work on holding its shrinking lead in the global smartphone market in a competitive atmosphere that has seemingly placed a target on Samsung’s corporate back. The company has been hit hard in recent years by lower sales of its mobile phones, which have been losing ground to cheaper phones from Chinese handset makers, and from stiffer competition from Apple and its latest iPhone 6 smartphones and from other competitors.
The company has had a string of disappointing earnings reports for some time now as its chief competitor, Apple, continues to rake in huge revenue and profits from its popular iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones.