JK Shin, head of Samsung’s mobile division, told reporters today (via Reuters) that the company expects to sell over 10 million units of the recently launched Galaxy S III during July. Despite concerns of component shortages for the flagship device, the company is expecting higher earnings for its current quarter compared to the $3.6 billion profit generated from January to March:
Samsung kicked off global sales of its Galaxy S III on May 29, but shipments have been affected by the tight supply of parts such as the handset casing for the pebble-blue model… In the United States, where sales were launched last Thursday, major carriers including Sprint Nextel Corp, T-Mobile and AT&T have not been able to offer the Galaxy with 32 gigabytes of memory, partly due to tight supply… “Due to overwhelming demand for the Galaxy S III worldwide, Samsung has informed us they will not be able to deliver enough inventory of Galaxy S III for Sprint to begin selling the device on June 21.”
Shin assured reporters that the company is not worried about the shortages affecting second quarter results. Shin noted “supply simply can’t meet soaring demand,” but he claimed, “things will get better from next week”:
“We’re getting far better reviews on S III than we did with its predecessors globally … and supply simply can’t meet soaring demand. We’ve sent executives and staff to almost all our (component) suppliers to ensure a smooth offering and hopefully things will get better from next week… The overall market condition was challenging due to euro zone issues and tight supply of components … but (our) second-quarter results will be better than the first quarter,”
Samsung’s Galaxy S III officially launched in the United States last week after having been available in the European Union since May 29.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments