Samsung this morning revealed a 29% plunge in its quarterly profit and warned that prospects look grim until the second half of 2019, when new smartphones hit the shelves. The news follows Apple’s revision of its Q1 sales outlook last week -- an announcement that  roiled world markets.

“Deteriorating relations between the U.S. and China -- Samsung’s two biggest export destinations -- has hit demand for memory used in everything from personal computers to mobile devices, raising the pressure on a company struggling to revitalize its smartphone business. Compounding that challenge is weakness at Apple, a major customer of components,” Sam Kim writes for Bloomberg.

“Samsung is a bellwether for the global tech industry, producing devices like smartphones and televisions, while also supplying components for the world’s largest electronics companies,” Timothy Martin points out for the Wall Street Journal.

“Over the past 18 months, Samsung has delivered a string of record profits, as the proliferation of internet-connected devices and data servers drove up prices for memory chips. But demand has leveled off for smartphones, computers, data servers and other consumer electronics in recent months,” he reports. “The global trade turmoil has further cooled investment in cloud computing and artificial intelligence -- which require vast amounts of data storage and processing power,” Martin adds.

“Analysts weren't entirely surprised by Samsung's bleak statement,” reports Sherisse Pham for CNN Business. 

“There is obviously the competition from the Chinese players that is limiting the growth of Samsung in many markets including the high-growth ones like India and South East Asia,” Kiranjeet Kaur, a Singapore-based analyst with research firm IDC, tells Pham.

“According to IDC's latest report, Samsung still sells the most devices globally, but experienced a 13% decline in sales in the third quarter of 2018, compared with the same period a year earlier. Chinese smartphone maker Huawei, meanwhile, posted 33% growth. And while many smartphone makers still use Samsung as a supplier, memory chip prices have ‘passed their peak days,’ Kaur added,” Pham writes.

“Samsung said its smartphone sales remained stagnant amid intensifying competition while its profitability worsened, hit by higher marketing spending for the year-end holiday. Still, it plans to cement its market leadership by launching a foldable smartphone and 5G models this year,” Song Jung-a writes for Financial Times, adding that it also “plans to strengthen its cutting-edge technology in chipsets and Oled panels needed for 5G, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving.” 

Indeed, despite the sales and financial woes, Samsung wowed the crowd at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday with its usual array of “incredible new TVs and unnecessary new smart appliances,” as The Verge’s Jacob Kastrenakes puts it in his round-up of an hour-long presentation.

“Onstage in Las Vegas, a series of Samsung execs came out to show us an enormous 8K TV, an updated smart fridge platform, a whole bunch of Bixby features, and an adorable robot that can check your blood pressure,” he writes.

LG Electronics, Samsung’s South Korean counterpart, yesterday “also flagged a drop in quarterly profit, with analysts pointing to increased marketing spending on smartphones as well as worse-than-expected sales of home appliances such as refrigerators in regions including China,” report Reuters’ Heekyong Yang and Ju-min Park.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, says all this financial turmoil has nothing to do with its contentious trade negotiations with China. 

“I don't think Apple's earnings miss had anything to do with the present trade talks,” commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said on CNBC's “Squawk Box.”  

“Think about it, there have been no tariffs put on Apple products. So that’s not it.”

CNBC’s Sara Salinas points out that Ross’ observation echoes “remarks by Trump on Friday, in which the president downplayed the financial impact on Apple and said he wasn't concerned about the company’s sales because it assembles its iPhones in China.”

“Apple was at a number that was incredible and they’re going to be fine. Apple is a great company,” Trump said.

Yale University senior fellow  Stephen Roach meanwhile, told CNBC's "Trading Nation” yesterday that the Apple news was likely “the canary in the coal mine” and suggested that the real impact has yet to be felt in this country.

“To think that what affects the Chinese has no bearing whatsoever on an otherwise resilient U.S. economy, I think, is ludicrous,” he tells host Mike Santoli.