Samsung estimates $40 billion sales in Q1 2012
Samsung estimates its operating profit nearly doubled in Q1 2012 between January and March from a year ago, as the company rides a high on boosted sales of its flagship Galaxy smartphones, including the part-tablet part-smartphone, the Galaxy Note.
The Korean giant will release its full quarterly results on April 27, with an estimated operating profit of $5.15 billion, with sales estimated to be just shy of $40 billion.
While Apple may be more than three-times the size of Samsung, with the Cupertino-based giant valued at over $580 billion versus that of $190 billion for Samsung, it maintains its marketshare position as one of Apple's greatest rivals.
Just this week, comScore's latest figures show Samsung leads the top mobile OEMs board with a steady market share lead at 25.6 percent over Apple's 13.5 percent.
Samsung is expected to have shipped around 44 million smartphones, up from 25 percent on the last quarter. The Note, a hybrid model between a tablet and a smartphone --- nearly doubling the iPhone in dimensions --- have already topped 5 million, adding a valuable addition to the company's revenue stream.
Pushing out rivals such as BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, Nokia, and HTC, Samsung remains the market leader in Android-running smartphones, doubling the success between the Korean giant and Google.
Despite the ongoing patent wars and the intense competition, Apple remains one of Samsung's major suppliers of components for its own iPhone and iPad.
While oversupply issues market have dropped worldwide prices in memory chips, smartphone makers are also weathering the storm the earthquake and tsunami in Tokyo in 2010, and bankruptcy of Japan's Elpida Memory have pushed competitors towards Samsung as a vital source of components and parts.
With the upcoming release of the new Galaxy S from Samsung, and the expected announcement of Apple's iPhone 5 looming in the coming weeks and months, Samsung may have to lower its smartphone prices which could impact its profit.
Image credit: Sarah Tew/CNET.
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