Samsung Electronics on Thursday published its financial report for the second quarter of 2017, revealing that the company managed to generate $12.67 billion in operating profit during the three-month period ending June 30, thus experiencing the most profitable quarter in its history, an achievement that it was also able to boast after Q1 2017. The original equipment manufacturer’s operating profit increased by 72.7 percent year-on-year, with Samsung now being likely to beat its annual profit figures once 2017 comes to an end. The tech giant’s revenue increased by 19.8 percentage points and amounted to $54.79 billion during the second quarter of the year, with the best-performing unit once again being its chipmaking business. The division recorded $7.19 billion in profit from April 1 to June 30, marking a massive increase compared to Q2 2016 when it posted $2.34 billion in profit.
Samsung’s stellar performance in the mobile chip industry is directly tied to the surge in demand for such offerings that’s largely fueled by various consumer electronics manufacturers, the Seoul-based company believes. Some industry analysts previously expressed skepticism in regards to the sustainability of this business in the long term, especially in light of the fact that Samsung is currently investing in new production lines in reaction to the current state of the market, though the company seemingly isn’t particularly worried about the future. While Samsung admitted that its Q3 2017 performance might be slightly below the previous quarter, it’s still relatively optimistic about its prospects, especially in the chip industry where both NAND and DRAM memory chips are still in strong demand, with their prices rising as a result of that situation, consequently increasing Samsung’s profit margins.
The company’s mobile unit that manufactures smartphones and tablets recorded $3.68 billion in profit during the quarter, a minor decrease compared to Q2 2016 when it posted $3.86 billion. The figure indicates that the Galaxy S8 series is performing in a manner that’s extremely similar to that of the Galaxy S7 lineup; while Samsung’s mobile portfolio consists of a broad range of devices, its flagship offerings are the ones that account for the most significant part of its profit margins. Samsung’s positive quarterly financials were published shortly after the firm announced another major stock buyback that’s set to be concluded with a cancellation of $1.8 billion of shares in an effort to unlock additional shareholder value.