Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has warned that it may struggle to meet the demand for its new Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone due to production constraints.
Samsung says it expects record shipments for the Galaxy S6—with the standard S6 outselling the higher margin S6 Edge version. But the South Korean electronics giant will have difficulties keeping up with demand for the higher end product in the short term due to the curved screens on the device being more difficult to manufacture.
At a recent event held in Seoul, Jong-Kyun Shin, president of Samsung’s mobile division, said the company is “working hard” to resolve the issues with curved screen production but its yields could be low for some time.
The production problems facing the S6 Edge are not affecting the regular Galaxy S6. Shin says the new smartphone is poised to outsell the 2014 Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S4 devices.
Recently, Samsung said it was beginning to see an improvement in smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2015. If the S6 can help stop the bleeding, it may go a long way to improving Samsung’s overall operating profits that have struggled for the past two years because of heightened competition in the mobile handset market.
The rise in shipments of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge will help to boost the overall shipments of power receivers in mobile handsets in 2015, according to IHS Inc. Along with the iPhone 6 and other smartphones, wireless charging is set to have its best year ever with power transmitters and receivers generating $1.7 billion in revenue this year, IHS says.
Questions or comments on this story? Contact peter.brown@globalspec.com
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