Korean smartphone leader Samsung Electronics Co. saw its net profit sink to the tune of 39 percent in its first quarter thanks to the big Apple's dominance in the high-end smartphone market segment.
Samsung sold about 83.2 million smartphones compared to 61 million of Apple, but could not sustain the shine it had in the previous quarters in terms of revenue.
The January-March income for the Korean smartphone maker stood at 4.63 trillion won ($4.35 billion). The figure was 7.49 trillion won in the same quarter a year ago.
Meanwhile, the story began to worsen for Samsung last year. The company saw its operating income tank 61 percent to 4.06 trillion won in the third quarter of 2014. This helped the company show the weakest yearly performance since 2011.
The operating profit stood around 5.98 trillion won, slumping 29.6 percent year on year, while sales fell 12.2 percent to 47.1 trillion won. The final figures minimally overtook the earnings estimate the company released in the beginning of this month, which placed operating profit at 5.9 trillion won and sales at 47 trillion won, according to The Korea Times.
Samsung hopes to increase profit during the second quarter. The company's Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge with curved screens are slated for global launch this month. However, high-end phones shipment will not be enough to offset the diminished sales of mid-segment and low-end models, according to Yahoo Finance.
Meanwhile Apple is enjoying its supremacy in the high end segment and it has just released its blow-out performance in the latest quarter with 61 million iPhone sale. The sale may not look impressive in comparison to Samsung, but the costs and profitability of iPhones are bigger than Samsung's high-end models.
The sales battle started last year. In the December quarter of 2014, some analysts predicted that Apple had surpassed Samsung in terms of smartphone sales, thanks to strong iPhone 6 sales. Some argued that the two tied, selling 74.5 million smartphones.
Meanwhile, Samsung vs. Apple battle is on.