The Samsung Galaxy S5 has not sold as well as its predecessors, and three company executives had to pay the price for the handset's weak performance.

Samsung recently posted disappointing quarter profits and news surfaced that Galaxy S5 sales in China have dropped by as much as 50 percent. At the same time, Samsung had also greatly overestimated demand for the Galaxy S5, which has resulted in too much supply left piling up in warehouses.

In such a gloomy context, heads started to roll at Samsung. Three top executives - JK Shin, B.K. Yoon, and Kwon Oh-hyun - have maintained their current positions within the company, but three other executives were forced to resign from Samsung over their poor business performance.

The news comes from the Korea Herald, which reports that Samsung made this decision as part of a wider effort to reshuffle and revice its strategy to get back on the right track.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 went on sale earlier this year as the company's flagship smartphone for 2014, following the great success of its Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 predecessors. The new iteration, however, missed projections by as much as 40 - 50 percent, and the weak performance comes while Apple is riding high on its iPhone success.

The three executives forced to leave the company are Lee Don-joo, head of the mobile business unit's strategic marketing office, Kin Jae-kwon, chief of the global operations office, and Lee Chul-hwan, until now in charge of the mobile R&D office. Hong Won-Pyo, formerly head of the company's media solutions center, will reportedly step in as head of the global marketing strategy office.

Previous rumors suggested that Samsung president JK Shin would have to leave the company as well, but it now seems the executive will keep his job for at least another year.

"Shin has made significant contribution in helping Samsung to become the global No. 1 in the mobile market. The president will have another chance to reinvigorate the mobile business in a new business environment," Samsung Groups' communications chief Lee June explained at a media briefing, as cited by Patently Apple.

Samsung has not made any announcement yet regarding its restructuring plan, but the communications chief further said that the company would announce its new organizational strategy soon after next week's executive shuffling.