Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter
androidauthority.com
Samsung sees 95% drop in profits for a second consecutive quarter::Today, Samsung posted its Q2 2023 financial results. The report says Samsung's profits have dropped considerably compared to last year.
each new phone is more expensive, with less functionality.
hover on the touch screen? gone
iris scanner, gone
headphone jack? gone
air pressure sensor? gone
humidity sensor? gone
ir blaster, gone
meanwhile I get charged out the ass for storage space.
Why the fuck would I want a newer phone?
Don't forget the SD card slot missing, S20 was the last one that had it. I still don't know what to get after that, just because of the missing SD.
mine can take an sd card, but only if i take out one of my sim cards, of course
I got an A52 just for that reason. Still using it. I wanted a S20 but they were sold out and I was told they stopped making it.
That pisses me off the most
Also removable batteries gone
Mine is actually very easily removable. The device overheats so much, that it's completely annihilated the glue, and now the back panel is only held down by the case c:
Be honest. You tried microwaving it, didn't you?
A very nice man on the internet told me it would charge it
Honestly, I may as well have
It should be back in 2027 in EU at least
That's supposed to be coming back by EU law in the next few years. So we have that at least.
Don't forget color changing led notification light. You could pay with your phone at old card readers using MST. Oh yeah, and the S9 had a blood pressure sensor.
Wait air pressure sensor and humidity sensor? Are you talking about their watches?
no, i am talking about phones. this stuff used to actually be in phones
Samsung Note 10 and others have a barometric sensor, though I'm not aware of any app using them. Which might explain their removal, sadly.
I have a barometric sensor in my phone?!
I like using the app phyphox to look at all the different sensors on my phone
Oh boy this is a weird tool hahah, I love it!! Can't thank you enough for this recommendation, it always bummers me how wasted are most phones in terms of potential, when I used to fantasize about futuristic portable computers as a little boy I though that people would become a short of cyborg that would do "magic" with their computers. Turns out, phone became the "squary-glassy attention sink machine" xd
I was thinking on accessing the pressure sensor via termux and then export that data to a csv file with some python script! phybox looks ver interesting to gain control over my devices 😗
news to me too, and I'm replacing it on Monday lol.
TIL I had a phone with barometric sensor.
Air pressure is (was?l in pretty much any phone.
At least Samsung has proper video out through the USB port. Unlike the trash that Pixels depend on, such as Chromecast. What kind of GPU doesn't have either HDMI or displayport (through USB-C like Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, Steamdeck, laptops, etc. ) out in this day and age?
They want to keep competing with and copying Apple/iphones, yet they keep forgetting about what makes Android phones so appealing to the people who select these phones over iphones.
Holding tight on to this Samsung Note 9 until it finally dies. Battery is still 'ok' for now, will last a full day.
Snapdragon, not that pos Exynos
Finger print reader on the back is the only way to do it. Wife has had several newer models with built in front side fingerprint reader and it has been ridiculously unreliable by comparison.
Iris Scan
Face Scan
Headphone jack
Micro-SD Card
USB-C
Wireless charging
NFC with payment support
And even the stupid pen thingy that I use maybe once a month.
Not 5G but the 4G LTE is usually more than fast enough even for streaming when using as a hotspot.
When money is tight you might use your phone for a year or two longer. 1000 Euro phones also don't help the matter.
While I don’t use a Samsung, I am over half way through my phones fifth year. Other than a battery replacement I’ve had literally no problems whatsoever.
If only lifespan and right to repair were written into law everywhere.
Software updates are the problem unfortunately
I wonder why this is not a problem for pcs though
Because PCs are from a time before tech monopolies. They are based on a spec that allows different vendors to work together. As a result there is more competition, more options for repair, etc.
I wonder how long this will last. We're already seeing Apple getting some crazy performance with their M chips with integrated RAM and GPU, wouldn't surprise me if PCs start becoming less and less modular as time goes on.
As a guy who likes repairing tech this movement towards anti repair saddens me.
Yes, though technically they started out as reverse engineered clones. There were tons of incompatible microcomputer brands before the IBM PC. Then companies like Compaq put out "PC compatible" clones based on specs that came from reverse engineering of the IBM PC. Over time, things evolved toward deliberate standardization.
Imagine the dumpster fire of legal action, which courts would likely side with, if someone put out hardware that was 1:1 compatible with the iPhone and iOS would run on it. That's basically what happened, though MS DOS was produced by an additional party instead of IBM.
I have quite a number of systems capable of running Windows 11. Microsoft won't allow it. Thankfully I run mostly Linux. But your point is not as solid as you think it is unfortunately..
Because PCs are based on a hardware standard that allows for a standard kernel and pluggable drivers. So you can just take a standard install of a new version of Windows, and toss in the same drivers from the last version, and you're on your way.
On ARM, there is no such standard that is widely deployed, the hardware is integrated bespoke for each and every device, so building a new version of the OS for a specific phone means using very specific configurations (where in memory is the GPU mapped? where is the sound chip mapped? on a PC the hardware can plug-and-play detect this stuff, on ARM it has to be hardcoded into the OS for every device). This is made worse by the chips used in mobile phones being proprietary hardware where the drivers are only released to manufacturers under NDA, and these hardware manufacturers often don't bother to supply updates at all and individual phone manufacturers don't have enough clout to force them to
It kinda is. Windows 11 won't run on older hardware and end of life of the latest version of Win 10 is coming up in 2 years or so. And a bunch of PCs weren't really ready for Win 10 when that replaced Win 7/8 and again, support for those dropped at some point.
Lifetimes are usually more lenient with PCs, but it still happens. You can switch to Linux of course, but then there are alternatives for many smartphones as well.
Developers require money, and software maintenance requires lots of developers, testers and other people.
Yes and no. Installing last version of android on a pixel 4 is most likely absolutely fine. And keeping at least security support is likely not a big deal. 3 years of security update support it is clearly a finance department decision. Why 3, why not 3 and half? Why not 4?
Just because they need predictability in sales, and they attached the support to the "classical" number of years after which you'd like a customer to buy a new tech product. 3 years has always been a magic number for hardware companies, since forever
No not really, formula is no more than 10% production costs pa unless w produced poorly to begin with. It’s even less if you’re running multiple versions of roughly the same thing then the costs are spread over those versions.
My Galaxy S10 is on its 5th year I think. Really had no issues with it, even the battery. Only showing signs of slowdown this year.
Granted, I run my phone on 720p and constant battery saver lol
It also seems like the whole you gotta upgrade every other month hype has long since died down. It's not the exponential improvements that it was ten or twelve years ago.
I couldn't agree more. I have a Zfold 2 that I've had since launch (3 years) and I look at the phones on offer now that I have an upgrade available and I see no reason to upgrade to a new phone for a marginally better camera and processor, there hasn't been enough innovation in mobile tech in that time to warrant paying another £1000+ over another 3 years, I'll rock this phone phone until it dies the same way I did my Note 9.
I'm in the same boat. I've still got an S10 from launch, although it's noticeably wearing down in performance now. I'll wait to the holiday season to see if I can get a deal on a new Samsung. At that point I'll have used the s10 for almost 5 years. Used to get a new phone every other year but that's not needed or wanted now.
Hell, I've had a £100 phone for 3 years already and it's absolutely fine. I've noticed a little battery degregation but it still lasts a whole day. Plus a cheap batter change will make it last year's more. I can't understand why anyone would still sing those contracts for a new phone every 2 years.
Phones just went through the same thing PCs went through twenty five years ago.
Yeah, I've had my LG G8 for four years now and I'm just starting to look for replacements. Unfortunately the G8 is known for the battery being very hard to replace or I would be looking into a battery replacement service instead to get a couple more years of useful life.
I'm clinging to my LG though with no OS updates ever again its days are numbered. In the meantime I paid a shop to replace the battery in my LG because it couldn't hold a charge anymore.
I'm still using my iPhone 8 Plus that I bought in 2017 and it still serves well since I don't play games.
Sorry. I'm just trying not to get evicted due to living in a country with the highest rent, internet, food, and data plan prices.
Sounds like Canada
You'd be correct!
Starting the comment with sorry really gave it away . Plus it sounds alot like my current situation
Seeing that you’re from Canada, why is this so? Why is living in Canada so expensive relative to elsewhere?
Government. Not liberals or conservatives, but the government as a whole. Canada has had many years where both liberal and conservatives were in charge, and nothing changed.
Canada doesn't allow competition. We have 3 main internet providers, 3 main phone plan providers, like 2 grocery store chains, a couple airlines, etc.
When other companies attempt to come in to break up monopolies, they lobby, and get them shut down.
I mean where are we going to go? America isn't really an alternative, as much as Americans think it is. Our healthcare, gun laws, etc are things that make Canada really good. We could move to some European or Scandinavian country, but that's not as easy as it sounds, especially when you need to learn a new language, get accepted, move your entire life, and live in such a different culture.
So people in Canada just accept it. Maybe one day monopolies will be broken up, but there are no parties that are going to do that now. Left or right leaning.
Huh, it's almost as if they don't encompass as much of the political spectrum as they'd like us to believe.
Not just any government, but a government captured by capitalism
Isn't refusing to break up monopolies against the idea of capitalism and competition?
Capitalism and free markets are separate things within the economic "sphere" of society. Capitalism is an economic doctrine that focuses on directing production through private capital; free markets (in theory) ensure "equal access" to markets for products (as compared to monopoly or (economic, not necessarily drug) cartel markets which restrict access).
Over in the "public sphere", governments decide whether to jump in bed with private capital (often resulting in monopolies or cartels in economic marketplacs), or to make & enforce regulations that protect the (so-called) free market.
Or to make and enforce regulations that protect consumers -- i.e. human f-ing beings -- and enrich local economies without protectionism and "zero sum games", but I guess we shouldn't get too carried away here ;)
Thanks for the clarification!
We have a similar thing in Australia with our supermarkets, airlines and media. Our governments have been equally as stagnant in trying to change things. Housing and utility prices are fucked as well.
I haven't even seen a North American have a kind of acceptable political understanding in the 2020s until now.
Plenty of real people are quite aware of our current issues, they just get drowned out online.
The Economist explains it well in their article Australia and Canada are one economy—with one set of flaws. The competition regulators in both Australia and Canada aren’t doing their job, allowing oligopolies to form.
It’s a type of endemic corruption and Transparency International should start calling it out.
https://www.economist.com/business/2023/06/01/australia-and-canada-are-one-economy-with-one-set-of-flaws
It's big and cold. How much food do you think grows there? There's actually plenty of cheap land but people like to live with other people.
If you don't want modern conveniences, I bet it's cheap. I bet you can live off of potatoes and chicken for like $0.
It's not cheap. Buying a crack shack in a shitty province with basically no job opportunities costs more than a nice place in LA.
Actually.
Getting a piece of shit, run down, SHARED town house in Nova Scotia costs more than a decent house in LA.
You can get a rural house with land for no money. You can grown your own potatoes and raise chickens. That life is exceptionally cheap. But like I said:
So the problem is, Canada is big and cold. No one wants to live in the cheap areas.
Yeah I watch a girl on YouTube who bought a run down old house in Nova Scotia + plenty of land for I think $64k? It obviously takes a lot of work to get it modernized but it was technically liveable when she bought it. But it’s kinda out in the middle of nowhere and therefore not as desirable.
(If anyone cares, she’s a booktuber but she has a whole video series on refurbing the house. Her name is Ariel Bissett.)
Speak for yourself.
At least you don’t live in the city with the highest rent prices. Our countries treated housing like and investment scheme which drives up local tax revenue resulting in reduction year in year of new developments (assuming Canada has the same supply Constraints as here) . The reduction is fueled by the tax revenue however also by the increasing amount of investors and owners who vote. They don’t want their asset values to decrease so it’s artificially kept high the value component of the assets left long ago, we are in fictional valuations now.
Regarding food, their is no other way around monopoly or duopoly other than supporting farmers markets. By supporting them they can grow their base and bring down prices. Not sure what else can be done here. It’s a real problem for us here.
Electricity prices are skyrocketing here and that’s squarely landed at the feet of poor renewables planning. Mandatory coal plant shutdowns without having replacement capacity in place is killing people when the elderly & vulnerable can’t afford AC during the heat waves.
Sounds like Singapore.
I've said it before and I'll say it again.
This is a sign of an upcoming recession if we aren't already in one. People are starting to run out of their savings due to stagflation and are looking for areas to cut. Buying a new phone every year or every other year and replacing laptops every 5 years are among the first things to go in anyone's budget.
So currently the only people refreshing their devices are the people who NEED new devices.
Capitalist economies always need spends out of desire and not just necessity.
Worst part is instead of reversing the gouging these companies will probably just go ham on the planned obsolescence.
Or simply that prices have become insane. Good phones used to be around 400, taking me a few days to think about it and say yes. Now they are beyond 1000, so I will do my best to avoid having to upgrade and go with custom ROMs again. In the meanwhile, we also lost exchangeable batteries, external SD cards, and microphone jack, and we gained more Google spyware and bloat.
Good phones are still $400. They just have this ridiculous tier now that is even higher
I had a Pixel 3a for years. It was a great phone and it was $350. Eventually it stopped getting updates :(
I'm not sure what you mean by a "good" phone. Like yeah, they came up a bit. A Pixel 7a costs $499, and if one wants wireless charging and a better camera they can go with the Pixel 7 for $599. Regular non-Pro iPhones are around the same price.
Like yeah, folding phones are well over $1,000 in most cases, but personally I think that's a gimmick, my hot take. But for me and 99% of the people I know, we're sticking with our slab smartphones.
I bought a m52 a while ago on a black friday promotion or something like that for 280. It's the most expensive phone I ever bought (usially i try to stay under 200). I know that for some that is peanuts, but I have it hard to justify spending so much money on a phone. 1000 for a phone is something I would never be able to do. The thing I do like about it is the quality of the photos and the ease to connect with my wireless buds.
The gouging is insane. £300+ for a tablet keyboard case for the s9 ultra.
I got one free as a preorder for the s8 ultra. No chance I am paying that much for a keyboard.
Even my iPad keyboard (the folio from Apple) “only” cost like £180. Samsung’s going nuts.
But don't Samsung at least throw in the spen?
Samsung isn't on planet earth with their prices. I was avoiding them anyway because I believe TouchWiz is an inferior interface than stock Android. Just way too much bloat.
Bloat is negligible. In fact it is their software that keeps me stuck with samsung. Its a total superior hardware and software experience.
Just wished they hadn't gone down the Apple courage route and bumped the price and pimped the features.
You're the only one I've heard of who was happy with it. One of the guys I worked with, traded a new at the time Galaxy S-series phone back into his carrier to exchange for an iPhone because it was very laggy. After seeing one in action I didn't blame him. It was laggier than my cheap Moto G series, which had a lot less processing power and slower storage. And this was back in 2017, so not too awfully long ago. But maybe things have changed since then.
2017 was a long time ago.
Like with everything you need to invest time to learn the features. If you just want a phone with basic capabilities then you are better off getting other brands.
The spen itself is packed with so many features but rarely does anyone bother learning them. Samsung have developed a powerhouse for productivity and unfortunately that means I'm stuck with them because nothing else compares.
Everyone is on their own journey and I agree that it is not for everyone.
Part of my job still is to help people connect their work email to their personal smartphones, if they want to. Many buy Samsungs because their carrier's store still sells them up front compared to other brands of Android. Though it's mostly A-series phones.
The problem with it is that Samsung doesn't put the access to the features in convenient or intuitive locations so many users just get used to not using them anyway. The only feature, I as a Pixel user envy over Samsung is the right side menu thing. But anyone with iPhone experience or experience using an Android that has gesture nav enabled by default, wouldn't think to try it even with the spen because that is the gesture to go back.
Ofc Pixels can do multitask yet many don't realize that because you have to click the app icons at the top of the recent apps screen to access the menu for it. So I guess I don't have room to talk about that aspect as a Pixel user.
But Bixby? I honestly think it's a waste of resources for Samsung when they could have just used Google Assistant like other brands. I mean Bixby is okay but still lacks in some areas, but Samsung invested a lot of resources and effort into it just to come up with something that barely keeps up with Google's Assistant.
Also I'm not a huge fan of their app drawer still. I guess I'm more of a "I just want to see an alphabetical list of all apps" on the app drawer type of person.
You hit the nail on the head for me. I loved my Galaxy S9+ but it was over 4 years old and literally falling apart. I just replaced it with an S23....but also as others have said, I think the S9+ was better. I'm especially having issues with the camera (look up bananagate) and my old car doesn't have Bluetooth so I have a USB C to Aux adapter that randomly cuts out sound so for a lot of drives I just put the sound up on my phone speakers and play directly.
I got a cigarette lighter usb port to provide power to a Bluetooth -> aux dongle. Works well.
I remember reading vague claims that this was expected by samsung and it was just the cost of something they did some years ago to eliminate competition. Unfortunately I don't have anything more concrete but someone else might know and add a comment.
It's not just stagflation, it's greedflation
Sadly I don't think greedflation is an official term. Stagflation was the closest I know about anyway.
damn and I just start my studies at the university :(
Tbh, might not be a bad time to do it as long as you don't sink yourself into debt too much or have to take out high interest loans. Because if the crash happens while you're studying and by the time you graduate things might start recovering again. I guess we'll see.
Drops in profits can mean investments, new hires and a myriad of other stuff. No meaning in the headline whatsoever. Profits are not revenue.
Young people in Korea have switched over to iphones. iphone have like 60% marketshare now for that demographic
Imagine actually using an iPhone
Most of the western world doesn't have to imagine
Dunno if you’re taking the piss but they’re not that bad. Have an iPhone mini 13 I bought for €450 2nd hand with 100% battery health. Decent upgrade from an Xperia XZ1 compact. Needed a pocketable phone & the Asus Zenfone was too expensive.
Have to say, having the call audio levels, proximity sensor & speakers properly tuned to the hardware, software/security updates without having to run a non-official build of Lineage OS and AltStore-Linux for side-loading has been sweet.
Do you have any sources for this? Afaik Samsung phones are still massively popular with young people in Korea.
not too hard to google. https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/07/24/samsungs-galaxy-is-about-to-have-a-generational-iphone-problem-in-south-korea/amp/
Foldable devices seem like the 3d TVs of the last couple of years. I will not be getting one any time soon.
After having one, it's really amazing and the form factor and random utility it brings (built in tripod, easy to aim flash light and be hands free). The screens just need work. The crease is a non-issue as far as using the phone, but the little screen protectors that manufacturers say not to take off will deteriorate after like 6 months.
I think it's close though and I do often miss my foldable.
Have had a samsung foldable and in a 2 year time period I've had to replace the factory installed screen protector twice. It started w a little crack that crept upwards until the whole protector was split in half. Ended up just peeling it off after the 2nd replacement started cracking. I imagine ppl don't like the idea of not being able to protect their screens for one of their premium products....
On the flip side I did watch the superbowl from a hotel pool with this phone and it was perfect for that.
and who even wants this? a couple of friends have them, and it seems like nothing more than a weird novelty. in sci-fi, the phone unfolds to become a tablet, not folds in half to become… uselelss while potentially damaging the screen for no good reason.
this is a classic example of one of those technologies that you think would be cool, but once you have it, you’re like, “eh, never mind.” but Samsung went all sunk cost fallacy and doubled-down on it, losing billions. brilliant!
I'd love to have one but they're overpriced.
Same with every flagship, the tech isn't scaring me off just that the price is ridiculous to me. A new phone case, wallpaper and launcher and I'll get another year out of any phone.
I see why you're saying that but I love my fold and I don't think I could go back to a regular phone anymore, you quickly get used to the screen real estate and its difficult to give it up imo. While the outside screen is too thin on my fold for my fat fingers you get the best of both worlds of a phone and a more portable tablet, I get it if its not your thing but I find it very handy to have that extra work space on my phone.
I'm in the same boat with my foldable. It'd be a handicap now to watch videos on a smaller screen now that I've gotten used to the bigger one. I only use the small screen for phone calls now because it's awkward holding the large screen to your face for that.
Yep, I'm hoping they'll do a slightly wider tri-fold model at some point. I'd like to have a wider front screen, like Galaxy S22 Ultra sized, and then be able to unfold twice to get a ~3x sized tablet-sized screen.
Not that that would help with the already astronomical price-tag of the Z-Fold.
And now TVs fold also 😂
Yeah, so many points of failure and so expensive
Maybe they could stop taking features away from their phones. Put a micro SD and aux jack back and I'd buy one
Sooo.. you want a Sony Xperia then
Stupid money, loved the Z series but the price skyrocketed
Yeh it's expensive but I vote with my wallet. Sony's build is the best I've ever had. Software is close to stock AOSP with nice Sony improvements. Only issue I see is Sony are slow to roll out major OS updates. All in all, I'd argue it's one of the best devices I've had over the last few generations.
This is exactly why I have mine! Sent this from an Xperia 5 III :)
Maybe I am in the minority but I’ll never need an aux jack again and I see it as another point of failure for water damage.
There is still significant lag for bluetooth audio on both ios and android platforms. It's doesn't really impact calling, and it doesn't really impact watching video content (because they figured out how to measure that latency in real time and inject artificial delay into the video stream so that audio and video sync). But what they haven't figured out yet is the answer for bluetooth audio for gaming. When gaming, you can't arbitrarily delay the video feed so that it lines up with audio, so the bluetooth audio experience is complete dogshit for any gaming scenario. If you game, you have to use the physical cable or the constant audio lag will drive you mad.
Also, there used to be (still are) a fair number of accessories designed to work through the aux port. Examples: mobile credit card readers that connect through aux jack (like square/paypal) that are used heavily by small vendors (especially for shows/events); also things like selfie sticks that use a cable plugged into the aux jack connected to a length of wire running inside the selfie stick to a button on the end of it.
The market is starting to come up with wireless versions of these things, but the modern wireless versions now require unique ios and android versions of them when the aux-jack solution used to be platform independent.
Also, the audio quality of an aux jack is an order of magnitude superior to anything that can be piped through bluetooth....still.
I very much appreciate devices still throwing traditional aux jacks onto mobile devices. Ideally, there will be a wireless technical solution that eventually is superior, but that technology is definitely not bluetooth and we're still waiting for it to be invented and hit consumer availability.
Would love to read more about the Bluetooth lag. Does it affect Bluetooth dac's like the fiio btr5 as well?
Almost all of those are pretty niche problems though. Which explains why they just aren't a high priority for manufacturers.
Wait... they're removing SD cards?
What is this, 1995? /jk
Nah it's 2005
As a Samsung user of 6 years, mainly due to job phone policy, I say they deserve it.
Great screens, but gawddamn they aren't worth their price. No charger, no headphone jack, no expandable storage, fingerprint sensor that are iffy and damn OS taking up 30% of your storage, no matter which option you go for.
I like the camera and s-pen on my S22u but that's it. They need to lower price and make competent mid range phones again, like the A52s.
But you can say this about any phone company these days (besides Sony, they still have it all) or you can blame them for taking the 'apple' direction of taking away everything and charging more.
Funnily enough they still have expandable storage on the A54. It's only their best models where they know they can gouge for more storage.
Its actually kinda ridicoulus that somehow features get removed from the top kodeks first and then it slowly trickles down to cheaper phones. You would think pepole paying literaly a 1000 dollars for a phone would complain first and foremost. But then again some pepole replace their phones every 2 years Just beacuse(its not like you need need new more powerful phones for pretty much any use including gaming, with the only known to me exception being emulators, but that is a very specific niche ).
They have expandable storage on a lot of cheaper phones, as well as Aux ports. I chose my phone, the A23 5g, over the A53 because of the Aux port, and it is still an amazing phone.
I love the spen, and never had trouble with the finger print scanner... But you nail the rest of the list.
Fingerprint issues were my biggest complaint on Note 20, coming from S9, that was a huge let down.
Huh, I guess I just got lucky, or have "typical" finger prints!
Try that with a screen protector on 20 series and you'll see what I mean. With other brands using optical sensor, you don't need to worry about it at all.
I have a screen protector on my s22u, without a problem.
As I said, maybe I'm just lucky. /Shrug.
Which kind? One that fully adhere to screen or the kind with glue on edges and circular area near sensor?
They still made around $1/2 BILLION.
I love how every headline about their earnings focuses on the drop from before and not on the actual number they made.
Boo-fucken-hoo the record profits they were making the last few years couldn't be sustained forever. Oh noes!1!!!
Dude a 95% drop in profits YOY is most assuredly newsworthy
Maybe if it was revenue. Such a drop in profits could be from many ordinary business operations like expansion
It states in the article that it is from less than expected sales, no?
And remember, nobody is actually losing money, they just aren't making as much as they'd hoped. You make shitty products and you homogenized with Apple losing anything that made you distinct and close to worthwhile. Fuck Samsung, all my homies hate Samsung.
Yeah, this is the chaebol system at work. The Faustian deal between these megacorps and the citizens of South Korea means that it is impossible for Samsung to fail or to be accountable for their bad business decisions. South Korea is the most developed cyberpunk technofeudalistic society.
without any kids. They're in for huuuge trouble.
They went from one million births in 1960 to just 250k last year.
The birth rate is below 1.
with a birth rate of 1, four grandarents make a single grandchild.
Once we go below 1, most people will never even be grandparents.
The boomers will enter retirement age soon, I'm not really sure how that will work.
They definetely won't be able to do anything against North Korea. They will either be bedridden or care for someone bedridden.
I think boomers are all retired, it's gen X and Millennials that don't breed
Youngest boomers are 59, so still not all retired.
Likely not having that many kids though.
Ok. I guess I live in a wealthier place, they all retired here on generous pensions at age 54 and a half
Could be. My dad retired at that age in the 90s. But he was Silent gen, not a boomer.
Who could know that refusing to patch critical bugs or, for that matter, to put any effort at all into software while constantly raising product prices would piss off the customers? It’s a mistery!
I can't believe that the whole Android ecosystem -and I mainly blame Google, let Apple outplay it at system updates. It was always going to come to a head as people keep their phones longer and longer.
Yeah, this is not it, their mobile division performed well, it was their chips division.
From the introduction of the article above: „Samsung blames the decline in smartphone shipments for its financial troubles. Samsung is hoping the launch of its foldables will help level out these losses for the second half of the year.“
Ah shit, I read the Q1 report: https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-earnings-report-3318100/
Sounds like a classic trust thermocline. Sales tend to keep stable and users put up with the shenanigans and prices while execs keep ignoring user's complaints, until suddenly there is the straw that breaks the camel's back and sales drop suddenly.
Lol everyone commenting it's because THEY don't want to buy a new phone. Samsung supplies screens, electronic internals for other companies, and a fuck ton of appliances. They don't only make phones..
Yet the article says Samsung attributes that to the phones market?
And expects a comeback because it’s launching new models…
This seems to indicate that most variable profit comes from the smartphones market.
I was just in a vacation rental looking at a Samsung mini-split AC and wondering if it was good or not haha.
Their washing machines and dryers aren't great compared to LG, so I would be suspicious of their ACs.
Samsung and LG are both garbage when it comes to washers, dryers and the worst for refrigerators.
What do you mean? Consumer Reports ranks LG dryers as the best, so much that you the next best dryer that isn't an LG is a Samsung in 21st place.
Of CR recommended dryers, 11/11 electric dryers are LG and 20/25 gas dryers are LG.
https://www.consumerreports.org/products/clothes-dryers-28982/electric-dryer-30562/view2/ (requires a subscription)
Where do you get your data from?
Consumer Reports isn't a valid source. They have paid reports.
Speed Queen is the top brand in washers and dryers.
LG dryers do not last past their warranty for very long. Anyone who's owned an LG can tell you that as with appliance repair companies.
LG and Samsung are very poor.
Do you have a source for that? That would be a pretty big deal considering they're a non-profit that claims to accept no samples and no advertising.
PeTA claims is doesn't fund terrorism. Yet they do. They were blacklisted from Walmart donations when I worked there for that sole reason.
Do you have a source for Consumer Reports having sponsored reports or not?
Are you referring to the $375,000 grant from the Climate Imperative Foundation to sponsor a report (with disclosure) on the impact of gas stoves on indoor air quality? That's the only instance I've been able to find in my searches on the subject.
If that's what you're referring to, are you suggesting that because CR once took a single payment to sponsor an article on gas stoves, that their reviews of washing machines are biased by sponsorship, even though they disclosed the former and haven't disclosed the latter?
Cumsumer Reports is UserBenchmark of appliances.
Samsung sucks and most corporations in tech have horrible practices. At least the big ones. Profits over people is there motive. Tech should be human friendly
All corporations are going for profit. None of them are thinking about you.
Numbers must only go up... no down
I know personally that I would never buy a Samsung phone again. The budget models are filled with ad/crapware. The premium models are expensive, gimmick laden and bad value.
Genuine question: what do you recommend instead? Not really excited to support Google via pixel either and didn't love my last iPhone. Is there a good choice anywhere?
Oneplus has gone to shit as far as software is concerned, but the hardware is still good, so if you're OK running a custom ROM, they're good.
I last used the Xperia lineup ages ago, but it was a pretty decent experience, close enough to stock Android and the additions they did add were actually improvements. No idea if that's still the case, but you could look up some reviews.
Ditto for Motorola, which was nearly stock Android back in 2014.
Murena sells refurb and new phones with /e/os preinstalled if you want to go google-free.
I do miss the early days of Android, when you had players like HTC creating completely unique Android experiences (I mean so did Samsung, but their uniqueness was how slow Touchwiz was).
Edit: Also completely forgot the fact that Nokia makes some good phones, including pretty affordable ones and some higher end ones. But personally the one person I knew with one had issues with the USB-C port and had to have theirs repaired by the warranty and then refunded on the second or third round. But that was a much older model, maybe 5 years now, they likely have fixed the issues on their newer ones.
I've had a Nokia 3.1 and 5.1 and I would advise everyone to steer clear! I won't be buying a Nokia phone again
Welp, another brand to avoid, that makes... pretty much all of them.
Out of curiosity, what was wrong with your Nokias? I'd never heard of any other issues besides the USB-C port on the 5.1.
The 3.1 started to become incredibly slow once I installed at the latest updates. If it's factory reset then it runs fine. The worst offender on that phone was turning the Wifi on and off. Turning it on (after all updates are installed) causes the phone to freeze for 10-20 seconds.
On the 5.1 the keyboard stops responding to every other key press at times. That's been my only gripe so far to be honest but it's incredibly frustrating.
I've been happy with my pixel. As much as it might be not ideal if you don't want to support Google, ironically it's like the only phone you can de-google and still have a locked bootloader and full features
Doesn't that invalidate safety net?
Sorry I'm not 100% sure what your asking. If you're asking about custom roms, I'd trust many custom roms (Graphene is my favorite) better than a lot of manufacturers's roms. And a bootloader that can be re-locked is a big boost to security, since it requires that the OS be signed by the devs instead of making it easier for malicious code to be shimmed in and run at the OS level even if I install a custom operating system.
SafetyNet is the name of Google's tamper protection thingy. Basically, if it's not a trusted chain, safety net won't pass.
This doesn't impact phone functionality, but some apps check for this and refuse to work if it's not passing. Google Pay is one of the more well-known examples. Some other banking apps will also check for it. Oddly enough, Pokemon Go also used to (not sure if it still does).
Ah, sorry, yeah potentially. I've heard that banking apps won't work most of the time (but usually just use the web any way so can't confirm). Though oddly if you wanted to use Google Play on Grapheme it works perfectly fine, so maybe not.
Sony Xperia
Have a look at Gigaset aka the Siemens branch that built all those DECT phones aka not Siemens mobile (which was a complete joke and failure). Not part of Siemens any more, anyway. Never really top of the line but also comparatively inexpensive (not as much as China phones but still), and most importantly: Replaceable battery. Always had them, even before the new EU regulation (which isn't even in force yet). Not really that popular in the mainstream market but definitely among builders etc. who want a rugged phone, they're quite successful in that niche.
Not the OP, but I went with Moto instead. They're slim, with minimal junk (2-3 Moto utility apps that aren't terrible, no Facebook or similar), they work as well as my Samsung phones (if not better), and my first one outlasted the network it was running on (AT&T older G-series network).
I think OnePlus, Motorola or Pixel but really you'd have to check reviews since any phone of including this shit if they wanted. Networks do it too so it is important to buy a SIM free phone if possible as the first precaution.
A refurbished Pixel or older refurbished OnePlus, they have great third party software support so you can just throw Lineage or /e/OS on there and never worry about crappy software and/or bloatware again!
I installed e/OS/ on my Samsung s8+, best decision of my smartphone user life. Fast os, no ads, no crapware, no tracking, no preinstalled bullshit
Does "visual voicemail" still work when using e/OS/? I bought an unlocked Samsung a few years ago, but it's apparently an issue to get visual voicemail working. Not sure if it's only an ATT problem, (like they're just being dicks about me not buying my phone through them), but I gave up cause it wasn't worth my time. I just don't really check my voicemail anymore cause I'm too lazy to call it, but I wouldn't mind having it back if it's a quick fix
The expensive models also have ad/crapware, don't forget about that fun feature
I didn't know about the adware but I know they bundle a lot of duplicate shit in the deluded belief that people want to use Samsung's payment system, or appstore or any of the other parallel universe junk that just stinks up the phone.
You shouldn't have to do this if course, but if you want to remove all the shit they put on phones it's very easy and safe to use ADB. XDA usually has a list of the things that are safe to remove and there are tutorials online.
I stopped buying Samsung when they started with the Knox bullshit. I saw it as an anti-consumer move.
Why is Knox anti-consumer? I just saw it as their security partner?
I believe that once you buy a device, you own it and you should be able to do whatever you want with it. You should be able to root or install a custom OS and customize it to your heart's content. Knox coupled with Samsung's locked Snapdragon bootloader prevents Samsung phone owners from doing any of that. And on Exynos phones, when you trip Knox, some features stop working on the stock OS and your warranty is void. Doesnt matter if you relock the bootloader, those things are gone. That was already unacceptable to me. Recently though, they also began disabling the camera on the Z Fold 3 when the bootloader is unlocked, which makes me even madder.
Dayum Samsung, arbitrarily disabling the camera? That's some apple type shit.
Fair enough. Cheers for explainer :)
Sure, it's like denuvo on games if you are familiar. First it was "security" then it was adding third party bullshit that isnt removable only "freezable". Hogging resources and killing performance.
You can absolutely remove any app using ADB commands, which can be run from the phone itself.
Not trying to argue against your point in anyway, just letting you know you can
Ah, the classic bloatware, because they can!
I don't even want to buy a new phone. It's been more than four years. What great productive work are most people doing on them anyway?
I'd buy a new phone if they fucking offered a flat oled screen. This rounded edges is complete bullshit.
The S20fe 5g is flat and has OLED. The flat screen is the reason I bought it. Still running as well as day one three years later. I have noticed a slight dip in battery life lately but I can get through a whole day with maybe 35% left. When this one dies, I will probably get another.
I have the S22 Ultra and it all started with the shitty S7 which I got after my Note 3 died. Also, the S22 Uktra has a worse camera than my Note 8. They made this camera for selfies and anything other than a selfie comes out blurry
Yep. I run my phones in to the ground and when it's time to replace it I'll get one of the cheaper models that's been out for a year.
If I'm going to pay£1500 for the latest flag ship phone then I'd expect it to do multiple things that a £300 phone can't do but the only real difference is that the cameras not quite as good.
Not to mention things like Lineage can get even more life from old phones.
I'm running lineage os on a 7-year-old phone, and I can confirm.
Im scrolling Reddit and Lemmy productively
You could always get one of those phones with buttons for under 50$
I used to be a huge fan of Samsung and it was the only things I bought. They aren't any better than competing brands and looking back now brand loyalty is just really dumb especially when the companies don't give a flying fornication about you. Buy something that works and in your budget. No more Samsung purchases from me.
I have a $300 Motorola 5g Ace, and it does everything I need it to for over 2 years now.
The chairman of Samsung is a convicted criminal, by the way. Pardoned by the totally not corrupt president. Apparently he's such a genius that laws don't apply to him.
Not surprising. I'd expect something similar to happen to anyone at the top of any of the chaebols.
Fuck Samsung, I've had the worst experiences in all of tech with their support system. I had a bad ram module on my s22 and even used the Samsung Support app and had a tech point it out to me. Sent it in and apparently the repair center can't see those notes that the support dev had written. It took 3 tries and countless calls to support, and eventually got in contact with the office of the CEO, and they basically admitted their backend support is so fractured that someone with phone in hand can't see any notes any other tech had written. They then decided to give me a refund, which was for less than the receipt, and after fighting for another MONTH to get them to give me the correct funds, they finally sent it to me. 3 months in total. Fuck Samsung.
The CEO directly handles support?
It's a gimmick I think, it's called The Office of The CEO. It's basically just customer support that actually can do things I guess. You can get to it through the Samsung website. It's truly the only way to get anything done, but you basically have to send a super bitchy email to get them to respond. https://www.samsung.com/us/support/contact/email-the-ceo/
People probably aren't enthused about buying an overpriced tv, fridge, washer, or phone that all come with bloatware and adware.
What
are
you
talking
about
I might buy a fridge from them if they could make one that lasted more than 10 seconds after the warranty was up.
I'm also in that zone of being in the market for things that Samsung sells, but to me, the brand association is with having all of these issues that don't seem very worth it to me. I just want something affordable and reliable, things that I don't associate with Samsung.
Couldn’t be the pricing! Nah. It’s the need for foldable phones
Poor functional design and atrocious security practices and culture will do that. Nothing to see here.
I suspect that hardly any mass market consumer cared about security, sadly. And what exactly do you mean with "functional design"? It's all slabs of screen with a charging port across the industry these days, or did you mean any features added/missing?
For security it depends on where you live in Australia there have recently been several very big hacks which is resulting in a lot of damage from the high valued sensitive information being stolen. So it now matters and is only getting more important. Samsungs made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Apple the opposite. Curved edge screens were nothing short of an abortion. Their bloatware invasive annoying and made experience terrible. Even the physical button lack of remapping was frustrating and useless.
Software to hardware Samsung is a train wreak.
I got LineageOS official just waiting for when Samsung abandons me
Only if you're on a Chinese Samsung phone.....the bootloaders are locked tight on the US and Exynos models AFAIK.
Probably depends on the device, but at least for me it's the opposite. The Exynos model of the Note 10 is the only one that has any development going on at all. The Snapdragon model is the completely locked down one
Ah right, I had that wrong, I think it's the US Snapdragon variant that is locked down.
Friends don't let friends Exynos 😜
A lot of people here clearly don't understand how large of a company Samsung is, and what all they sell.
Maybe make better products, return to high QA, and deal with customers as customers and not enemies?
Nah, take on another L instead.
I bought 1 Samsung phone. Never again.
Same. It's the software. I don't want your shovelware, Samsung.
Exactly, they're amazing and last forever, no need to ever buy two! I've had my Samsung tablet now for 9 years and it's still going strong (though I've replaced the battery twice, but I can't blame Samsung for the realities of battery chemistry haha), it's still the best screen I've used too, bloody fantastic big AMOLED display.
Until this thing breaks down one day I've no need to buy any more Samsung stuff! Though when it does, I can't wait to see what other amazing tablets they've cooked up in the intervening years :-D
95% is huge. They been releasing too many models and their new phones are too expensive for me. they should follow apple and only release one every year
They make far more than just phones..
yes they also make crappy fridges which are 100% disposable because the compressor dies 10 seconds after the warranty is up, filling up out landfills with perfectly good appliances that could have stayed in place in working condition if they just spent 5% more on better compressors for them. But no.
From the article, "Samsung blames the decline in smartphone shipments for its financial troubles."
I have a four year old phone, and unless I do something stupid I don't know why I would change.
Performance is a non issue in 2023
I think this is a much more significant factor than everyone saying they want SD and AUX back. A 2019 phone is still very good from a hardware perspective, especially for the needs of the majority of users. Phones plateaued awhile ago.
Considering that Samsung is basically the South Korean government this may be worse news than it seems.
South Korean here. They're not. They're big. Too big, yes. But I don't understand why do you think so.
Well there was all the bribery. Then there was the pardoning of the bribery convictions.
Which the former president and the CEO were sentenced and actually went jail for. Besides, Samsung was practially a victim in the said bribery case.
And the CEO was not pardoned but is on parole...
I wouldn't say much about other countries' political shit. You shouldn't too.
Because more and more people are using their phones until they quit. Who needs a folding phone?
no surprise
Good. Fuck Samsung.
yeah bruh, i have zero interest in a foldable phone or whatever the fuck.
I don't mind it when corporations lose money. Fuck 'em.