In fact, the 77.78 trillion Korean won revenue and KRW 14.12 trillion operating profit posted in this January - March 2022 timeframe are almost perfectly in line with the tech giant's early April expectations, marking absolutely huge improvements from the 65.39 and 9.38 trillion won reported at the end of last year's first quarter.
What we were obviously very intrigued to see was the company's Q1 2022 financial performance detailed and broken down by division, with the MX (Mobile eXperience) business in particular capturing our attention on the heels of the Galaxy S22 family's late February release.
Ultra sales, mass-market 5G success, and a surprise hit
By no means Samsung's most profitable department, with its KRW 3.82 trillion gains comparing rather unfavorably to the massive KRW 8.45 trillion surplus of the always successful memory business, the mobile division of the world's largest smartphone manufacturer did manage to overcome key supply shortages and improve on Q4 2021's numbers.
That being said, the aforementioned 3.82 trillion won profit, which by the way equates to around 3 billion US dollars, represents a worrying and somewhat inexplicable decline from the KRW 4.39 trillion earned during Q1 2021 on the back of a lower divisional revenue score.
The built-in S Pen definitely helped the S22 Ultra sell like hotcakes.
That's especially hard to explain seeing as how Samsung insists on repeatedly citing the "strong" and "solid" sales of the Galaxy S22 Ultra while predictably enough not going into any details whatsoever on actual numbers garnered by the S Pen-wielding giant.
Interestingly, "mass-market 5G models" from the mid-range Galaxy A family and "tablets including the Galaxy Tab S8" are also highlighted as key contributors to the mobile division's profit hike (compared to the final three months of 2021), alongside "wearables."
The ultra-high-end Tab S8 lineup can certainly be considered a surprise hit given its decidedly extravagant pricing structure and the modest mainstream success of Tab S7 and S6 models that were never mentioned by name in an earnings report like this one.
It's arguably also interesting to note that the S22 Ultra is repeatedly mentioned by its full name, once again proving Samsung was probably wise to pull the Galaxy Note plug but strongly suggesting the "vanilla" S22 and the S22+ have a pretty big problem.
Looking ahead to an uncertain future
Unfortunately for Samsung and the mobile industry on the whole, component shortages are "likely to persist" through the end of the year, and the COVID-19 pandemic is not completely over yet, continuing to cause "uncertainties" around manufacturing and distribution in key regions.
Taking all that into consideration, as well as a slight quarter-on-quarter decline predicted for the smartphone market in the April - June timeframe, not to mention various "geopolitical issues" caused by one particularly poor Hitler impersonator in Eastern Europe, Samsung is not prepared to set incredibly ambitious goals for the rest of 2022.
The popular Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 are all but guaranteed to get sequels this year.
What you can be 100 percent certain of is that "new foldable models" are coming... at some point, and the company fully intends to "maximize" the sales of these (not so) mysterious devices and consequently expand its "premium user base."
It remains unclear if we should expect two or three new foldables to be released during the second half of the year, but until then, Samsung plans to stay focused primarily on maintaining "the strong sales" of its existing flagships while also "actively responding to increased market demand for the mass-market 5G models." That last part seems to suggest 5G-enabled Galaxy A13 and A23 variants are not only in the pipeline but likely to get wide distribution and strong promotion before long.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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