Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone
Samsung Electronics has reported record quarterly profit of US$7.4bn (€5.7bn), a 26pc increase on the same quarter last year, as a result of surging sales of its Galaxy smartphones and display panels, which offset lower sales of memory chips.
In the three months to September, Samsung, the world’s top technology company by revenue, said net profit was 6.56trn won (€4.64bn), up 91pc from a year earlier.
Samsung mainly attributed its performance to increased sales of handheld phones and stronger demand for display panels.
The South Korean company’s results come after Apple reported Q4 revenues of US$36bn, a profit of US$8.2bn, with the company declaring it sold 26.9m iPhones during the fourth quarter.
Samsung said its mobile communications business posted 26.25trn won in revenue for the quarter, accounting for more than half of its total revenue. For device solutions, the company said, operating profits reached 2.29trn won on revenue of 17.40trn won.
“The business environment remained difficult with global economic uncertainties persisting amid the fiscal concerns in the US and Europe. However, we continued to break our quarterly profit records,” said Robert Yi, senior vice-president and head of investor relations at Samsung.
With the company expecting market conditions to intensify, Yi said Samsung will “do our best to sustain our earnings momentum throughout the fourth quarter by implementing strategies we have developed for our businesses.”
