Samsung preemptively cutting 10% of headquarters staff as it falls behind Apple & Chinese manufacturers

According to a report Tuesday out of Korean newspaper Economic Daily, Samsung is laying off some 10 percent of its headquarters support workforce as well as planning to cut general expenses by 50 percent next year. This comes as the smartphone maker continues to lose ground to Apple’s iPhone line as well as Chinese Android manufacturers — like Huawei, Xiaomi, and OnePlus —  that are creating high-powered smartphones with slim margins…

First up on the chopping block as part of this “downsizing measure” are workers in “back-office operations,” according to the Economic Daily. These include those working in finance, personnel, and public relations. What is Samsung suggesting that these workers do? The Korean company is reportedly encouraging voluntary retirement or transfer “to other affiliates through personal interviews with personnel department managers.”

Samsung saw a drop in revenue from Q1 2015 to Q2 2015 and plunging market value, even as the company announced its latest flagship Galaxy S6 line of smartphones. These devices, in comparison to many offerings from Huawei, Xiaomi, and others, are expensive and priced similarly to Apple’s iPhone. Meanwhile, Apple has been doing really well lately, with iPhone revenue specifically in Q3 2015 up 59 percent over the year previous.

“Cutting jobs is the easiest way to control costs and Samsung’s spending on mobile business could also be more tightly controlled,” Chung Chang Won, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Seoul, told Bloomberg. “Samsung’s preparing to tighten its belt as it isn’t likely see rapid profit growth in the years to come.”

Thankfully for Samsung, it isn’t doing as poorly as Taiwan-based HTC. In fact, the Korean company most recently came out at IFA to show something that might — arguably — be the most truly innovative piece of consumer electronics it has announced in recent times. The Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch, which is based on the company’s Tizen operating system, has a navigation system based on rotating the watch’s bezel. Be sure to check out our hands-on footage to get a closer look.