Roh sees room to gain share as some rivals raise prices or scale back production Samsung Electronics CEO and Mobile eXperience chief Roh Tae-moon (Samsung Electronics) Samsung Electronics is doubling down on smartphone volume despite worsening margins, prioritizing market share gains over near-term profit recovery.At an internal management briefing Wednesday, Samsung Electronics co-CEO and Device eXperience head Roh Tae-moon told employees that profitability pressure could persist while memory prices remain elevated, according to industry sources familiar with the meeting.Roh then named "market-share expansion" as a key second-half priority. The bet is to keep volumes up as some rivals respond to higher component costs with price increases or production cuts.“Some are increasing prices and accepting margin pressure, while a few are simply pulling back on launches and production,” said Shilpi Jain, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, referring to smartphone makers in the firm’s July report on the second-quarter market.That approach comes despite a sharp earnings split inside the company.Samsung posted a record 89.5 trillion won ($64.2 billion) in operating profit in the second quarter. Its Device Solutions division, which houses the semiconductor business, generated 89.2 trillion won. DX, which covers smartphones, TVs and home appliances, recorded an operating loss of about 800 billion won.Mobile eXperience and Networks alone lost about 700 billion won even as revenue rose about 14 percent from a year earlier. Galaxy S26 and Galaxy A-series sales remained solid, but higher component costs outweighed the revenue growth. Samsung led the global smartphone market in the second quarter, with Apple in second place and Chinese brands trailing further behind. (Counterpoint Research) Counterpoint Research said global smartphone shipments fell 11 percent on-year in the second quarter, the weakest second quarter since 2013. Samsung still led with a 24 percent shipment share, ahead of Apple's 20 percent. Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo all posted double-digit declines as memory costs hit their greater exposure to entry and midrange phones.Samsung said Thursday it will unveil a new member of the Galaxy S26 family on Aug. 27. The company has not named the device, though industry reports widely expect it to be the Galaxy S26 FE, which would give Samsung another lower-priced S26 model as it pushes for volume.The earnings split has also sharpened an internal compensation dispute. Samsung has long kept DS and DX financially and operationally separate, partly because major chip customers such as Apple also compete with Samsung in smartphones and other consumer devices.A DX-focused union plans to rally near Samsung's Seocho headquarters Friday, with organizers expecting about 3,000 participants."The uncomfortable part is that Samsung's mobile business did not fall into the red because it sold fewer phones," an industry official said. "Sales grew, but memory costs rose faster. If Samsung wants to keep calling its system performance-based, it has to decide how much of that external shock should count as employee performance."