Samsung Elec Q1 profit slumps on phones, chips

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. posted a bigger-than-expected 25 percent slump in quarterly operating profit on Friday, hit by sliding margins in mobile phones and memory chips.

"The second quarter will be so-so, but earnings from the second half are expected to get better on improvements in display and chip divisions", said Kim Seong-ki, chief investment officer at SH investment trust management.

The world's top maker of memory chips saw its NAND-type flash memory chip prices tumble 25 percent in the first quarter.

Samsung earned 1.61 trillion won in operating profit for the quarter ended March 31, against 2.15 trillion a year ago. It missed a 1.79 trillion profit forecast by 12 analysts surveyed by Reuters.