Samsung accounts for 13% of smartphone operating profit

Samsung Electronics accounted for 13 percent of the world’s smartphone industry in terms of operating profit over the first quarter of 2017, data showed Sunday.

According to the data compiled by Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics took up 12.9 percent of the combined operating profit posted by global players by posting $1.57 billion in earnings over the January-March period, down 21.9 percent from a year earlier.

Samsung’s rival Apple, on the other hand, posted an operating profit of $10.1 billion over the cited period, accounting for a whopping 83.4 percent of the global industry, a gain from 79.8 percent posted last year.

Apple’s operating profit rate in relation to sales came to 30.7 percent, hovering far above 9.7 percent tallied for the Korean tech giant.

Analysts said Samsung has been struggling to improve its profitability due to market saturation and generally falling margins. The company’s operating profit rate came to 22.1 percent in 2013, but gradually fell to reach 11.6 percent in 2016. YONHAP