Samsung's latest quarterly earnings (covering April and June) unfortunately did not quite make it to what the company has expected. This forced the Galaxy maker to adjust the pricing of its flagships Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge in order for the handsets to continue to sell, CNET reports.
According to CNET, the latest pair of handsets for the South Korea-based tech firm that were estimated to swell up its earnings, drastically fell short. Samsung won't reveal its "adjusting" measure, but a source told CNET that the flagships' price tags will be stripped.
According to PC World, the net profit of Samsung, which amounts to 5.75 trillion won (or US$49 billion), is eight percent lower than last year. Sales took a nose dive to 48.5 trillion won, which is down seven percent. The site says that Apple's domination and the rise to popularity of Chinese flagships factored in the tailspin.
The publication added that the success of Apple's iPhone 6 and 6S combo certainly had Samsung a run for its money with the Cupertino tech firm scooping up $49.6 billion worth of sales and a quarterly net profit of $10.7 billion. The company sold 47.5 million iPhone units in the quarter.
The operating profit for Samsung's smartphones decreased to 2.76 trillion won, nearly losing half of the 4.42 trillion won it netted last year.
"Poor sales of S6 only proved that it can't beat Apple in brand loyalty among users and just ended up being one of the many Androids," Dongbu Securities analyst Yoo Eui Hyung said via Bloomberg. "The price cuts may increase sales, but I highly doubt it could promise bigger profit growth," he added.
Executive director of the research firm Strategy Analytics Neil Mawston, on the other hand, said via Bloomberg that "China is becoming a problem child for Samsung that it needs to fix." Xiaomi and Huawei stepped their game this quarter with smartphones with high-end specs and small price tags.
There's no concrete info available regarding the alleged price cut for the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. As of now, the former's standard 32GB version is priced at 559 euro (or US$ 610) as listed by GSM Arena while the latter is at 669 euro (or US$730).
Bloomberg adds that Samsung's attempt to boost its earnings in the months to come also include releasing the Galaxy Note 5 on August 13, a date earlier than its traditional launch schedules. This is its bid to steal the thunder from Apple's new iPhones, which are expected to come out on September.