Samsung is optimistic about AI-driven smartphones, despite losing sales crown

Samsung posted a 35% drop in profit on Wednesday, in a sign of how demand for semiconductors continued to remain sluggish.

Samsung posted its fourth straight quarter of slumping profits on Wednesday, capping off a dismal year that also saw it lose its crown as the world’s top smartphone maker. The South Korean tech giant posted a 35% drop in profit on Wednesday, in a sign of how demand for consumer devices and the chips that power them continue to remain sluggish. The company said its operating profits declined to 2.8 trillion won (almost $2.1 billion) in the December quarter, compared with 4.3 trillion won ($3.5 billion) a year earlier, and roughly in line with its earnings forecast shared earlier this month. Despite that, Samsung is optimistic about a resurgence in demand for mobile devices this year. The company told investors that it anticipates the smartphone market to rebound in 2024, particularly with the rollout of new products, such as AI-powered smartphones, set “to drive an improvement in demand.” Samsung, which has also long been the world’s leading seller of smartphones, was overtaken by Apple (AAPL) in the fourth quarter, typically a peak time for retailers because of the year-end holiday shopping season.