Apple Page -- April 28, 2015

AP is reporting:

Samsung Electronics Co. said its first-quarter net income has plunged 39 percent as the smartphone business saw its profit shrink to less than half from a year earlier.

The company reported Wednesday that its January-March income was 4.63 trillion won ($4.35 billion), compared with 7.49 trillion won one year earlier.

That was lower than analysts' consensus of 4.97 trillion won.

Sales fell 12 percent from a year earlier to 47.12 trillion won while operating income dropped 30 percent to 5.98 trillion won, in line with Samsung's earnings preview earlier this month.

The wider-than-expected drop in net profit was due to a big profit plunge in Samsung's mobile business. The maker of Galaxy smartphones said its mobile division generated 2.74 trillion won in quarterly profit, compared with 6.43 trillion won a year earlier.

Analysts estimate Samsung sold more smartphones than Apple during the quarter but the Korean firm lost its share in the high-end market to Apple after the maker of the iPhone began offering models with bigger screens last fall.

Compare to Apple which had a blowout quarter and stunning results. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment or financial decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here.

******************************

Random Update Of Iraqi Production

For the archives. Bloomberg Business is reporting:

Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest producer, will start exporting Basrah Heavy crude next month after offering discounts for the new grade in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Iraq is offering Basrah Heavy after facing pressure from customers to split its main Basrah Light crude into two grades to preserve quality. The country, home to the world’s fifth-largest proven reserves, is rebuilding its energy industry after decades of conflict and sanctions. Iraq pumped 3.34 million barrels a day in March, state-run Oil Marketing Co. known as SOMO said April 16.

Crude exports from northern Iraq via SOMO will rise to 550,000 barrels a day in early May, 600,000 barrels a day in June and 625,000 barrels a day by August. Iraq pumped about 2.4 million barrels daily at the end of 2010 and plans to boost capacity to 6 million barrels by 2019. 

I'm probably misreading this but the delta between 3.34 million bopd production and 600,000 bopd in exports suggests most of Iraq's oil is necessary for internal consumption. I don't know.