Samsung bets on India to drive business growth in H2

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Samsung expects the India market to be critical for the recovery in demand and business in the second half of the year, after a sharp decline in operating profits in the June quarter dragged by tepid sales across the world, the Korean handset major's global head of mobile business said. «The India market is the fastest growing.

It will also be very critical for our recovery and also success in the second half,» TM Roh, Samsung Electronics president and head of MX (Mobile Experiences) business, told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of Samsung's latest foldable smartphones. He added that the company is currently in discussion for strengthening cooperation with both online and offline partners in the Indian market.

Roh said the global smartphone market has been slow in the first half, but there are predictions of a recovery in the second half. «But then the pace of the recovery perhaps is not going to be as fast as we would hope for.» Brokerage firm Jeffries has cut its smartphone outlook for this year — to a fall of 5.5% on-year from a 1.4% decline, ailed by weak sales in markets such as China.

That said, the brokerage remains bullish on 5G, forecasting a rise of 16% in 2024 and 12% in 2025. Samsung itself posted a 22% sequential decline in operating profit in its mobile business in the second quarter ended June 2023, with overall profit plunging some 95% from a year ago, due to a slowdown in global demand for smartphones as well as memory chips.