Samsung camera module suppliers’ Q3 profits plummet 

Camera module suppliers to Samsung Mobile saw their operating income plummet in the third quarter of 2020.

This starkly contrasts with Samsung Mobile’s 50% surge in operating income for the quarter __ which likely shows that the Korean tech giant benefited from hefty cuts in module unit prices.

Mcnex reported sales of 412.5 billion won and operating income of 25.9 billion won, an increase of 18.1% in sales but a steep drop of 24.5% for its operating income year-on-year.

Accumulated operating income up to the third quarter dropped 44.7% compared to the same time period in 2019.

Partron posted sales of 357.5 billion won and operating income of 22.1 billion won, a rise of 5.9% and a drop of 28.2%, respectively, year-on-year.

Accumulated operating income up to the third quarter was down 66.8% from the same time period in 2019.

Powerlogics saw the worst performance drop out of the three. It posted sales of 307.8 billion won and operating income of 1.6 billion won, a drop of 7.2% and 90.6%, respectively. Its operating margin rate stands at 0.5%.

Samsung Mobile saw operating income of 4.45 trillion won in the third quarter, an increase of 52.4% year-on-year.

People familiar with the matter said unit price cut in the third quarter by Samsung against its suppliers reached late single digit percentage, much steeper than the conventional cut rate between 3% to 5%.