Fears that sales of its flagship Galaxy S6 smartphone have missed expectations were reinforced as Samsung Electronics posted a seventh consecutive year-on-year fall in quarterly operating profit.

The S6’s sleek design has won plaudits from critics but signs of slow sales since its April launch have prompted analysts to cut their forecasts of Samsung’s performance this year. Their scepticism seems vindicated by the group’s second-quarter earnings guidance.

The South Korean group had put the S6 at the centre of what it said would be a full revamp of its ailing smartphone unit and had codenamed the S6 “Project Zero”, with a focus on improving the lacklustre reception for last year’s S5.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015