Samsung is on a tear and, despite losing a major legal case against Apple in August, the Korean electronics giant’s mobile phone business continues to go from strength to strength after it announced another record quarter of profits, $7.4 billion (8.12 trillion won), during the third quarter of 2012. That’s a whopping 91 percent year-on-year increase.
The company put its latest stellar financial performance down to increase sales of its mobile phones and heightened demand for its display panels from manufacturers, such as rival Apple – although that relationship has been speculated as ending by Korean press, which Samsung denies. In a sign of its successes, Samsung’s mobile business accounted for more than half of the firm’s total revenue, bringing in $23.9 billion (26.25 trillion won).
Increased shipments of Samsung OLED (Organic Led-Emitting Diode) and LCD (Liquid Display Crystal) panels used in smartphones, tablets and TVs “drove up profitability”, Samsung said.
Once again, the firm declined to reveal device numbers, though analysts at IDC estimate that it shipped 56 million smartphones during the quarter, that’s more than double Apple’s 26.9 million iPhones. The Cupertino firm did see higher profits during the three-month period, however, bringing in $8.2 billion at $8.67 earnings per share based on revenues of $36 billion.
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Samsung posted then-record profits of $5.9 billion in the second quarter of 2012, during which it is estimated to have sold 50.5 million smartphones.
Image via Flickr / stereopoly_de
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