Samsung announces its Q3 2014 earnings guidance, one with the biggest drop in operating profits for company since 2009-- -60% Y-o-Y, reaching $3.8 billion (or 4.1 trillion won), down from $9.6bn in Q3 2013.

Such figures also mark the 4th consecutive quarter of operating profit declines for the company.

In turn the S. Korean giant assures investors it is "preparing new smartphone lineups featuring new materials and innovative designs,” as well as new mid- to low-end devices to help boost Q4 sales and profits. According to analysts Samsung has been hit badly on both upper and lower tiers of the mobile market, as Apple now also makes oversized smartphones while the likes of Xiaomi and Lenovo make cheaper yet relatively high quality devices for the Indian and Chinese markets.

“The Note 4 will help to stabilize Samsung’s device unit in the fourth quarter, but it will need more than one evolutionary model to stop the iPhone juggernaut,” Strategy Analytics tells Bloomberg.

Causing another hit to Samsung sales are lower TV prices, slow post-World Cup TV emend and the earlier-than-expected end to the summer sales season for ACs and other appliances.

Go Samsung Earnings Guidance for Q3 2014

Go Samsung Earnings Slump as Galaxy Smartphones Struggle (Bloomberg)