Samsung makes largest R&D investment ever despite poor performance in 2014

Even though Samsung reported a 23.2 percent drop in its annual net profit since 2011, it isn't slowing down on spending for the company's R&D. BusinessKorea stated that Samsung had spent a whooping $13.8 billion in research and development for 2014. This was regarded as the largest R&D investment ever made by the company.Up until now, a few people were skeptical as Samsung was making heavy investments in devices which did not really shine nor make a mark in the smartphone market for a long time. However, after announcing the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge earlier this month during Mobile World Congress, Samsung proved that it is yielding positive results for the first time in a while.The new phones have been well-received for the revamped design and various technological improvements. Following the positive response, Samsung has raised its production target for the new flagship Galaxy smartphones. Samsung increased its total production target for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge devices to 8 million units for April from 7 million previously.The report by BusinessKorea also mentioned that the company's R&D investments increased by 3.7% from that of the previous year, though there was a drop recorded in sales by 9.8%. Unfortunately, Samsung's Q3 reports were almost similar to those reported in 2012 due to the slow sales of strategic smartphones, including the highly anticipated Galaxy S5.The report also states that Samsung has reduced the expenses for marketing activities such as advertising and sales promotion.