Samsung will report record profits as smartphones surge

KOREAN ELECTRONICS GIANT Samsung will report record profit for the fourth quarter driven by the success of its Galaxy range of smartphones.

The company said today in a statement that its estimated profit for the quarter ended 30 December will be 5.2tn Won ($4.5bn), up 73 per cent from the previous year. Meanwhile preliminary fourth quarter sales rose 12 per cent to 47tn Won.

Samsung said the surge was down to its handset division as well as a $1.4bn sale of its hard disk drive business to Seagate that it closed last month. The firm is expected to have sold a record 35 million smartphones in quarter four, up from 30 million devices in the previous quarter.

The company expects its full year results to reflect operating profit of 16.2tn Won and sales of 164.7tn Won.

Samsung's Galaxy smartphone range has been key to the electronics maker's strong performance. Just a year ago, experts feared that the South Korean manufacturer did not have a strong enough smartphone range to overtake Nokia and pose a threat to Apple.

Samsung will announce its full financial results later this month. µ