Samsung hasn't been struggling to quite the extent that some other Android hardware vendors have been in recent months, but the challenges of an increasingly congested marketplace are catching up with the South Korean giant. Sales of its Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are said to have fallen short of expectations, and its latest Galaxy Note 5 won't be sold at all in many parts of the world.
It seems that Samsung may now have realized that it can't sustain its current spending levels, particularly given that its profits declined for a seventh consecutive quarter this year. Something has to give - and it appears the company is now preparing to react by making some big cuts to its workforce.
As Bloomberg reports, citing Korea Economic Daily, Samsung is preparing to cut around 10% of staff at its corporate headquarters. As of June, the company employed just under 99,000 people at its head office, which means that almost 10,000 of them could be affected by the cuts.
Nonetheless, Samsung is pushing ahead with the release of new products, adding to its growing range of mobile devices. Last week, the company unveiled its latest Gear S2 smartwatches, and teased a device known as the Galaxy View, which is believed to be an 18.4-inch Android tablet. However, whether or not such devices help to reverse its recent decline remains to be seen.
Source: Bloomberg
Update [Sep 9, 2015; 11:30 GMT): According to Yonhap News (via SamMobile), a senior Samsung official has said that the company plans to relocate workers, but does not intend to make any cuts to its workforce at this time.
19 Comments - Add comment