Samsung posts Q3 record profit despite mobile setback
Samsung Electronics has posted its highest ever operating profits of 17.57 trillion won, up 21 percent from a year ago, in the third quarter of 2018, the company announced.
Revenue was 65.46 trillion won, its second highest figure ever, the firm's third quarter earnings report said.
Its semiconductor business contributed operating profit of 14.56 trillion won, a record for the division and over 80 percent of the profits for the entire company.
Chips contributed 13.65 trillion won, thanks to high demand for NAND and image sensors. In displays, the company saw 1.1 trillion won in profit thanks to high demand for flexible OLED aimed at smartphones.
The mobile business contributed 2.22 trillion won, a significant drop from last year's 3.29 trillion won. It is also considerably lower given that third quarter profits are usually high thanks to launch of flagship phones.
Samsung said flagship sales were strong but overall stayed flat due to it refreshing its low- to mid-end line-up. The South Korean tech giant recently launched the A7, its first quad camera phone, to defend from the onslaught of Chinese vendors, especially Huawei, launching price-competitive phones that chip away its market share in the low to mid-end.
It said mobile will "expand flagship sales by offering new design in and enhanced lineup" in 2019, and will strengthen competiveness with the launch of foldable and 5G devices.
Samsung's consumer electronics business marked 560 billion won in operating profit, a rise from last year's 490 billion won thanks to improved sales of its premium TVs such as QLED and ultra-large-sized TVs.
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