Samsung Electronics reports 3% drop in Q1 net profit

The world’s biggest smartphone maker, Samsung Electronics, reported a three-percent drop in first-quarter net profits on Wednesday, as the coronavirus pandemic dampened consumer demand.

Net profits in the January-to-March period were 4.88 trillion won ($4 billion), down 3.1 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

The first-quarter performance was “partially due to effects of COVID-19”, Samsung said in a statement.

The firm is the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung Group, by far the largest of the family-controlled conglomerates known as “chaebols” that dominate business in the world’s 12th-largest economy.