By FUNMILOLA GBOTEKU

Samsung Electronics says in its forecast for the second half of 2025 that the smartphone market will decline year-on-year, given the macroeconomic uncertainty caused by the US tariff policies.

Samsung?s Corporate Mobile eXperience Vice President, Daniel Araujo was quoted as saying this in the organisation?s 2025 First Quarter (Q1) Report, which was made available on Wednesday.

On its earnings call, Araujo said that there would be potential adjustments in its Q2 forecast due to global tariff policies.

According to him, the company?s Mobile eXperience (MX) business also expects a decrease in smartphone shipments, due to the fading effects of its new flagship model launches.

The vice president noted that the tablet market would also see slower growth, but premium demand was expected to remain robust.

The Samsung report announced that the company?s consolidated revenue for Q1 reached a record high of KRW 79.14 trillion (N89.20 trillion) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025.

It reported an operating profit of KRW 6.7 trillion (N7.5 trn), despite challenges faced by its Device Solutions (DS) Division.

The DS division reported KRW 25.1 trillion (N28.2 trn) in consolidated revenue and KRW 1.1 trillion (N1.2 trn) in operating profit for the quarter.

?Revenue was driven by expanded server Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM ) sales and additional NAND (a type of flash memory) demand, although earnings were impacted by the erosion of average selling prices and decreased High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) sales,? the report said.

It noted that the company had increased its Research and Development expenditure by 16 per cent compared to the same period last year, amounting to KRW 9 trillion (N10.1 trn)

Despite growing macroeconomic uncertainties, Samsung expects its performance to improve in the second half of the year.

The report said the company?s semiconductor business was projected to continue growing, driven by increasing demand for AI servers and high-value-added products.

The Mobile Experience (MX) business also reported revenue growth, driven by strong sales of the Galaxy S25 series.

Samsung Display Corporation (SDC) reported KRW 5.9 trillion (N6.65 trn) in consolidated revenue and KRW 0.5 trillion (N563.9 bn) in operating profit for the quarter.

The Visual Display and Digital Appliances businesses reported KRW 14.5 trillion (N16.4 trn) in consolidated revenue and KRW 0.3 trillion (N338.4 bn) in operating profit.

The report said in Q2 of 2025, the MX Business would strengthen its foldable lineup by offering a differentiated AI user experience.

It added that the business would launch new ecosystem products with enhanced AI and health capabilities, and explore new product segments such as XR. (NAN)

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