Samsung Galaxy S7 appears to have pulled the company out of its smartphone slump

Though the numbers are preliminary, Samsung today offered second quarter guidance which seems to confirm that the South Korean giant’s Galaxy S7 is a winner.

Released in late March, the S7 received strong reviews and appeared to be popular with consumers. Today, Samsung offered preliminary guidance for its Q2 earnings, indicating that operating profits would be up 17 percent from a year ago on revenue that would be up 3 percent.

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Samsung will release its official earnings for the three months ending June 30 later in July.

Those operating profits would be the company’s best in two years. This is welcome news for Samsung, which has had a rough couple of years as its new Galaxy smartphones took hits in the Chinese market, where a host of newcomers have been eating up marketshare.

At the same time, Apple’s iPhone 6 series proved to be wildly successful, adding to Samsung’s woes.

But the Galaxy S7, officially unveiled at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress in February, seems to have shifted the momentum to Samsung. At least for the moment.

Apple reported its first decline in iPhone sales during the first three months of 2016. And projections are that sales overall will be down for its fiscal year that ends in September.

Of course, Apple will unveil the next iteration of its iPhone in September, and the question on analysts’ minds will be whether there are enough new features to get consumers excited about upgrading.

Until then, Samsung seems to have the wind at its back, as iPhone fans typically hold off purchasing new gadgets until they see the new version in the fall.

Of course, both companies will continue to face tough competition from low-cost Android devices and a softening economy in China.

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