There's no sugarcoating the fact that Q3 2016 turned out to be one of Samsung's worst quarters. It actually had the potential to be one of the company's best quarters but then the Galaxy Note 7 happened and the rest, as they say, is history. Samsung's mobile division saw its operating profit drop to the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2008 as it barely avoided its first-ever loss. It weighed on the company's overall profit which is at a two-year low itself.
So how does Samsung bounce back from here and improve performance in the fourth quarter for which it has already forecasted a $3 billion hit due to missed sales of the Galaxy Note 7? It's going to go all out on the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge. Samsung will continue to push the 2016 flagship and expects that it will help recover the mobile division's earnings “to a similar level with that of the fourth quarter of 2015.” Samsung posted revenues of KRW 53 trillion ($44 billion) and operating profit of KRW 6.14 trillion ($5.1 billion) in the fourth quarter of last year. Samsung expects smartphone and tablet demand to increase in the fourth quarter due to the holiday season.
Samsung's plan for 2017 involves expanding sales of new flagship products that will be launched with “differentiated design and innovative features,” it also points to regaining consumers' confidence as one of the objectives for next year. Samsung will play on its strengths by enhancing software services like Knox, Samsung Pay and other cloud-related and artificial intelligence-related services. Samsung “anticipates” a turnaround next year as it launches new flagship smartphones and also expands Samsung Pay to additional markets across the globe.
