The drama continues for electronics giant Samsung, as it posts preliminary results for yet another lackluster quarter. The company reported a 12 percent drop in revenue and a 37 percent decrease in operating profit during the fourth quarter of 2014.
Specifically, Samsung posted preliminary revenue of roughly 52 trillion won ($47.3 billion) and operating profits of roughly 5.2 trillion won ($4.7 billion). Compared to the year ago quarter in 2013, the company earned 8.3 trillion won ($7.6 billion) on sales of 59.3 trillion won ($54.9 billion) – leaving for a sharp decrease.
Sales and profits did increase from the third quarter. However, this happens with every phone giant as customers make Christmas and holiday purchases during the fourth quarter.
Comparing Samsung’s numbers to Apple’s, things are looking troublesome for the South Korea-based company. Apple is expected to post between 65 to 69 million phone sales during the holiday quarter, crossing $70 billion in revenue, analysts say (we’ll know for sure later this month).
Samsung said it plans to slim down its line of smartphones and put more of a focus on emerging markets, where it’s currently facing competition from China-based Xiaomi, to help bounce back.
[Recode]