Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest smartphone and memory chip maker, reported a slump in fourth-quarter net profits on Thursday, blaming a drop in demand for its key products.
Net profits in the October-December period were 8.46 trillion won (USD 7.6 billion), it said, down 31 per cent year-on-year.
The firm is the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung Group, by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in the world's 11th-largest economy, and it is crucial to South Korea's economic health.
It has enjoyed record profits in recent years despite a series of setbacks, including a humiliating recall and the jailing of its de facto chief.
But now the picture is changing, with chip prices falling as global supply increases and demand weakens.
It also has to contend with increasingly tough competition in the smartphone market from Chinese rivals like Huawei - which surpassed Apple to take second place last year - offering quality devices at lower prices.
"Unfavourable business and macroeconomic factors led to slower performance in the final quarter," Samsung Electronics said in a statement, when "earnings were affected by a drop in demand for memory chips used in data centres and smartphones."
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