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Beleaguered Samsung on Friday revealed its quarterly profit tumbled by two-thirds to an eight-year low on weak demand for its iPhone knockoffs coupled with a weakening global economy negatively affecting Samsung’s memory chip prices.

Samsung’s Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for bribery in January 2021

Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang for Reuters:

Samsung’s profits are expected to shrink again in the current quarter, analysts said, after the South Korean company announced its October-December operating profit likely fell 69% to 4.3 trillion won ($3.37 billion) from 13.87 trillion won a year earlier.

It was Samsung’s smallest quarterly profit since the third quarter of 2014 and fell short of a 5.9 trillion won Refinitiv SmartEstimate… “All of Samsung’s businesses had a hard time, but chips and mobile especially,” said Lee Min-hee, analyst at BNK Investment & Securities.

Quarterly revenue likely fell 9% from the same period a year earlier to 70 trillion won, Samsung said in a short preliminary earnings statement.

Rising global interest rates and cost of living have dampened demand for smartphones and other devices that Samsung makes…

MacDailyNews Take: Karmicly beleaguered is Samsung.

Real iPhones vs. Poor Man’s iPhones. Same as it ever was. — MacDailyNews, April 22, 2022

Apple iPhone customers are the most recession-proof smartphone buyers. — MacDailyNews, September 7, 2022

It’s the peddlers of crappy Android dreck who’ll be the worst affected by rampant inflation and recession, not Apple. – MacDailyNews, September 16, 2022

The same goes for Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple Services customers in personal computers, tablet computers, smartwatches, and subscriptions, respectively. – MacDailyNews, October 13, 2022

The most inflation- and recession-resistant big tech company is Apple, thanks to its superior customer demographics. – MacDailyNews, October 27, 2022

When your money becomes a greater concern, you want to spend it wisely. In China and everywhere, if it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone. Further, if it’s not an iPhone Pro, it’s not an iPhone Pro. – MacDailyNews, October 27, 2022

The bottom line: Those who settle for Android devices are not equal to iOS users. The fact is that iOS users are worth significantly more than Android settlers to developers, advertisers, third-party accessory makers (speakers, cases, chargers, cables, etc.), vehicle makers, musicians, TV show producers, movie producers, book authors, carriers, retailers, podcasters… The list goes on and on.

The quality of the customer matters. A lot.

Facile “analyses” that look only at market (unit) share, equating one Android settler to one iOS user, make a fatal error by incorrectly equating users of each platform one-to-one.

When it comes to mobile operating systems, all users are simply not equal. – SteveJack, MacDailyNews, November 15, 2014

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Android is pushed to users who are, in general:

a) confused about why they should be choosing an iPhone over an inferior knockoff and therefore might be less prone to understand/explore their devices’ capabilities or trust their devices with credit card info for shopping; and/or
b) enticed with “Buy One Get One Free,” “Buy One, Get Two or More Free,” or similar ($100 Gift Cards with Purchase) offers.

Neither type of customer is the cream of the crop when it comes to successful engagement or coveted demographics; closer to the bottom of the barrel than the top, in fact. Android can be widespread and still demographically inferior precisely because of the way in which and to whom Android devices are marketed. Unending BOGO promos attract a seemingly unending stream of cheapskate freetards just as inane, pointless TV commercials about robots or blasting holes in concrete walls attract meatheads and dullards, not exactly the best demographics unless you’re peddling muscle building powders or grease monkey overalls.

Google made a crucial mistake: They gave away Android to “partners” who pushed and continue to push the product into the hands of the exact opposite type of user that Google needs for Android to truly thrive. Hence, Android is a backwater of second-rate, or worse, app versions that are only downloaded when free or ad-supported – but the Android user is notoriously cheap, so the ads don’t sell for much because they don’t work very well. You’d have guessed that Google would have understood this, but you’d have guessed wrong.

Google built a platform that depends heavily on advertising support, but sold it to the very type of customer who’s the least likely to patronize ads.

iOS users are the ones who buy apps, so developers focus on iOS users. iOS users buy products, so accessory makers focus on iOS users. iOS users have money and the proven will to spend it, so vehicle makers focus on iOS users. Etcetera. Android can have the Hee Haw demographic. Apple doesn’t want it or need it; it’s far more trouble than it’s worth. – MacDailyNews, November 26, 2012

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