Samsung Electronics' Q2 operating profit drops on weak smartphone sales

Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest manufacturer of smartphones, memory chips and display panels, said Thursday that its second-quarter operating profit dropped due to weak smartphone sales and the local currency's appreciation against the U.S. dollar.

Operating profit was 7.19 trillion won (7 billion U.S. dollars) in the second quarter, down 24.6 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement. From three months earlier, the profit declined 15.3 percent.

It was the first time in two years that the tech giant recorded operating profit below 8 trillion won. The earnings missed a market consensus of some 8 trillion won in operating profit.

The company said that about 500 billion won reduced in the second-quarter operating profit due to the negative effect from the local currency's ascent to the dollar.

The earnings were also affected by slow global sales of smartphones and tablets along with escalating marketing expenditure to reduce inventory. Weak demand for mobile devices impacted the company's chip business.

Samsung sold 95 million mobile phones and 8 million tablets in the second quarter, down 14.4 percent and 38.5 percent each from the first quarter of last year.

Revenue fell 8.9 percent from a year earlier to 52.35 trillion won in the second quarter, and net income tumbled 19.6 percent to 6.25 trillion won.