Samsung posts first annual profit decline in three years

BAD NEWS: The South Korean firm, whose key mobile phone operations have struggled in the face of intense competition from cut-price Chinese rivals, also warned that it expected 2015

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, posted its first drop in annual net profit in three years, days after arch-rival Apple reported the biggest corporate profit in history. 

The South Korean firm, whose key mobile phone operations have struggled in the face of intense competition from cut-price Chinese rivals, also warned that it expected 2015’s “business environment... to be as challenging as 2014.”