Samsung posts record profits on Galaxy phone sales

October 28, 2012•3 Minutes
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Samsung Electronics has reported record profits in the three months to September, led by strong sales of its Galaxy range of smartphones. Net profit was 6.5t won ($5.9b; £3.7b), up 91 per cent from a year earlier. The South Korean phonemaker was also boosted by strong demand at its display panel unit.

 

The results come after quarterly profits from Apple—its biggest rival in phones and tablets—disappointed some investors. While Samsung has enjoyed tremendous success with its Galaxy range of smartphones, other manufacturers have been releasing new models.

 

But not all mobile phone firms are doing well as competition gets more aggressive. Last month, Apple started selling the latest version of its iPhone and this week, launched a smaller version of the best-selling iPad.

 

 

On Thursday, it announced profits in the last quarter were $8.2b, up from $6.6b last year. HTC said on Friday its sales would be lower than had been expected at the end of the year as the Taiwanese smartphone maker has been finding it hard to emulate the success of its rivals and South Korea’s LG Display returned to profit for the first time in more than a year as strong demand for the iPhone 5 and tablets increased sales of its display panels.

 

Samsung expects market competition to intensify but “we will do our best to sustain our earnings momentum throughout the fourth quarter by implementing strategies we have developed for our businesses,” said Robert Yi, head of investor relations. The firm said its flagship Galaxy SIII smartphone has been a key driver in raising profit margins.

 

“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,” Yi added. The display panels unit at the firm had revenues of 8.46t won, up 19 per cent from the previous year. The unit is now profitable.

 

And the firm expects a “flurry of new mobile devices hitting the market” to boost sales of application processors and image sensors it makes that power smartphones and tablet PCs.

 

BBC