Samsung is sitting pretty after a better financial quarter than the company had expected. The South Korean tech giant told investors to expect a profit of $7.28 billion, but the company delighted concerned parties with a significantly higher return. To give a point of comparison, the company’s total income was $47.5 billion, which was 26% more than it made in the previous year for the same quarter. That’s huge!
The reason?
Look no further than the Galaxy S III, which made a huge impact on a global level on the smart phone market. In fact, Samsung’s smartphone sales are leading a steady quarterly growth in the company’s revenue. In this most recent quarter, the Mobile Communications division brought in half of the company’s total income – nearly $24 billion.
Samsung did not announce the total number of units sold, but analysts estimate that the company sold 60 million smartphones during the last three months alone. Compare that to Apple, which sold 26.9 million iPhones during the third quarter. Yes, Samsung does offer some cheaper models than Apple, but that’s a big difference. From July to September, more than twice as many people bought a Samsung product instead of an Apple product. Apple posted a higher profit margin for the quarter, but Samsung has a greater share of smartphone customers.
Samsung’s display panel business made a strong showing this quarter with a cool billion in profit (19 percent higher than last year over the same quarter), though the chip division suffered as the demand for PCs continues to shrink. Samsung is realistic in its forecast of the PC DRAM chips, noting that demand will likely continue to be weak. Still, even the chip market is profitable for Samsung.
Despite a tough economy in North America and Europe, Samsung continues to post profits. We’ll certainly keep an eye on the numbers as Apple and Samsung continue to battle for dominance of the smartphone market.