Samsung
Electronics Co. turned cautious on spending for the first time since
the global financial crisis, the annual investment plan to keep
changing at 2012 levels, as demand wanes and slows the computer chip in
the smartphone market.Samsung,
one of the industry's most aggressive spenders, ramp up capital
spending each year since 2004 except 2009 to meet the soaring demand
for an array of consumer electronics and mobile devices. It sold 700,000 smartphones records per day in the final quarter.But
with the PC market shrinking for the first time in 11 years, the global
smartphone market is growing slower, and Apple Inc. is moving to buy
smaller Samsung microprocessors used in the iPhone and iPad, the South
Korean giant IT hardly now keep a lid on spending."Overall
yet to earnings momentum secure, and smartphone shipments continued to
grow even in the traditionally weak first quarter, Samsung got a
broader product line-up and Apple appears to be struggling in pushing
sizes aggressively iPhone, "said Lee Se-Chul, a Seoul-based analyst at Meritz Securities.Samsung,
which reported a record quarterly profit and annual on Friday, said he
would keep capital expenditure in 2013 unchanged from 2012."The
key word for us in 2013 flexibility investment. We will determine the
market demand dictates," said Robert Yi, head of Samsung investor
relations analysts.Data from the company Samsung shows began in slow down planned investment in the last quarter.Samsung
said it spent 4400000000000 won in October-December, pushing its 2012
investment to a record ₩ 23 trillion ($ 21.5 billion). But the company said in October that he on 25000000000000 wear course won in 2012.Analysts had expected a 4-20 percent cut in capital expenditure Samsung 2013.In
contrast, Taiwanese rival TSMC is planning to raise its capital
expenditure this year to $ 9000000000, focused in part on win Apple
orders away from Samsung.Shares in Samsung fell 2.1 percent as of 0250 GMT, lagging a 1.1 percent decline in the broader market.EARNINGS RECORDSamsung
had poured money into factories to support the production of chips and
panels used in Apple products and Galaxy range of devices, pushing
8840000000000 won operating profit in the last quarter. The 89 percent increase from the previous year was in line with its earlier estimate.Profit
at its mobile devices division, which makes phones, tablets and
cameras, more than doubling 5440000000000 won in the quarter from a
year earlier, took a broader offering of smartphones - from the very
cheap to the expensive.The department is responsible for 62 percent of the total profits Samsung fourth quarter, up from 55 percent the previous year.Samsung
is also seeing strong sales to Note phablet, analysts expect to help
Samsung get through any seasonal weakness better than competitors.Samsung
is not providing a breakdown of smartphone sales, is estimated to have
sold about 63 million smartphones in the last quarter, including 15
million Galaxy S IIIS 7 million Note IIS.The company also said 2012 operating profit rose 86 percent to an all-time high of ₩ 29 trillion.Samsung vs AppleSamsung
sold 213 million smartphones last year and increased its global market
share to 30.4 percent from about 20 percent in 2011, the market
research firm Strategy Analytics report showed on Friday. The sharp increase reflects aggressive marketing Samsung's wide range of products.Apple's share of the market rose slightly to 19.4 percent from 19.0 percent in 2011, according to the report.Global sales surged 42.7 per cent last year to 700 million smartphones, Strategy Analytics said.Samsung
said on Friday it expects the global smartphone segment to shrink in
January-March from the seasonally strong fourth quarter, and the
overall handset market growth will slow to mid-single-digit years.The forecast according to industry estimates, the signs of a slowdown are already advanced.Apple
shipped 47.8 million iPhones in the three months ending in December, a
record does not however quite disappointed analysts accustomed to years
of outperformance. The
company Cupertino, California-based revenue forecast also missed Wall
Street for a third straight quarter as iPhone sales lagged expectations.Apple
shares fell by more than a third since mid-September as investors fret
that day Hyper grew over and longer devices 'must-have' as they were.Contrast,
has shares in Samsung risen 12 percent in the same period as the
company quickly once seen as copying the ideas of others now sets the
pace in innovation.The
world's largest electronics show in Las Vegas this month, phone Samsung
exposure prototype with a flexible display that can be folded, almost
like paper, and a microchip with eight processing cores, creating a
buzz that can be used in the field next galaxy."It
is very unlikely to us that the five Exynos OCTA (processor) find their
way into the the S4 Galaxy," wrote UBS analyst Nicolas Gaudois in a
recent note."It
also looked as if the curved display pretty close to the finished
product. We came away even more convinced that providing significant
distinction displays Samsung devices, and applications processors will
grow materially over time, "said Gaudois. ($ 1 = ₩ 1066.2000 Korean)
