Samsung Electronics flags profit drop on weak chip demand

South Korea`s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Tuesday estimated a 29 percent drop in quarterly operating profit, its first decline in two years, as it flagged tough memory chip and mobile phone markets in a rare commentary.

Weaker earnings at the world`s biggest maker of smartphones and semiconductors adds to worries for investors already on edge after Apple Inc https://tmsnrt.rs/2GYDer8)Prices for DRAM chips, which provide devices with temporary workspaces and allow them to multi-task, declined 10 percent in the fourth quarter, according to industry tracker DRAMeXchange.

Prices of NAND flash memory chips, which hold data permanently, slipped 15 percent.

DRAMeXchange anticipates memory chip prices to fall 10 percent on an average in the first quarter of 2019.($1 = 1,116.4000 won)

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