Samsung expected to log plunge in Q3 profit: analysts

SEOUL (Yonhap) - Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chipmaker and No. 2 mobile phone maker, is forecast to report a sharp on-year decline in its third-quarter profit, hit by weak consumer demand in advanced countries, market analysts said Thursday.
The company is expected to report an operating profit of 3.35 trillion won (US$2.83 billion) for the July-October period, down 31 percent from one year earlier, a market consensus of analysts showed.
Samsung's revenue in the three-month period is estimated to have reached 42.4 trillion won, up 6 percent from a year ago, according to market analysts.
Samsung Electronics, also the world's largest maker of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and TVs, is scheduled to disclose its estimate of its third-quarter earnings on Friday.
Samsung will be among the first global electronics companies to reveal its performance at a time when Europe's debt crisis and mounting U.S. budget deficits have hit the demand-sensitive tech industry particularly hard.
Sluggish demand for TVs and PCs battered prices of LCD panels and computer memory chips, the two key electronics components exported by Samsung.
Analysts said that the booming demand for mobile devices may have been the only bright spot for the Korean tech titan.
Samsung may have surpassed Apple Inc. and Nokia Corp. in terms of smartphone shipments in the last quarter, as the new Galaxy S2 smartphone fueled demand amid the absence of a new iPhone from Apple and Nokia's ongoing struggles.
Samsung was the No. 2 smartphone maker after Apple in the April-June period, according to Strategy Analytics.