Samsung slashes Q3 profit estimate by a third

Seoul

SAMSUNG Electronics Co slashed its quarterly profit estimate by a third on Wednesday, soaking up a US$2.3 billion hit from ditching its flagship smartphone in what could be one of the costliest product-safety failures in tech history.

Quantifying the financial pain of Tuesday's move to scrap the Galaxy Note7 smartphone after a global recall and weeks of mounting problems, the world's top smartphone maker said it expects its July-to-September operating profit to come in at 5.2 trillion won (S$6.5 billion), down from the 7.8 trillion won it estimated five days ago.