The fourth quarter performance of Samsung Electronics, the pillar of Korean economy, was significantly lower than expected. Its operating profit in the fourth quarter was 10.8 trillion won, and the market expected 13.83 trillion won. Its sales in the fourth quarter were 59 trillion won and the market expected 63.58 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics said the decline in earnings was partly due to weak memory demand and lower fourth-quarter shipment growth than in the third quarter. It is expected that the first quarter of storage will continue this trend, but supply and demand will improve in the second half of the year, and the company's performance is expected to increase. The smartphone market competition is intensifying, but sales are still stagnating despite the peak sales season.

“China's sluggish demand will further drag down Samsung chip sales. The smartphone market in China is steadily declining, affecting not only Apple, but also Samsung Electronics.”Reuters cited HI Investment & According to Song Myung-sup, an analyst at Securities.

Apple and Samsung Electronics may have to face the embarrassing reality that everyone who wants to own a smartphone already has one, while smartphone innovation has encountered bottlenecks, and current new products are not enough to motivate them to change products. Raising prices is a way to quench thirst by drinking poisons, as Apple's experience has shown.

The drag from China's demand may have less impact on Samsung's mobile phone sales. Samsung Electronics has a market share of less than 1% in China's smartphone market, compared with 9% for Apple. However, Samsung Electronics's memory chip revenue contributes more than 70% of its profits, while Chinese mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei and Millet are important buyers.

Reuters cited Eugene Investment & According to Securities, shipments of Samsung's electronic memory chips fell by 10% in the fourth quarter.

“Earnings are expected to fall faster than I thought. I can't buy (Samsung) shares now, no matter how cheap it is.”Jongjun Won, CEO of Lime Asset Management, a hedge fund, told Bloomberg that“Some people say that first-quarter profits will fall to around 100 billion won again. I can't buy a stock when there's no hope.”