SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS fourth-quarter profit rose 17 per cent as surging smartphone sales helped Asia’s largest consumer-electronics company keep pace with Apple and overcome a loss at its flat-panel business.
Net income was 4 trillion won (€2.7 billion), compared with 3.42 trillion won a year ago, the South Korea-based company said.
Sales rose 13 per cent to 47.3 trillion won, in line with a preliminary estimate announced earlier this month. Samsung shipped more smartphones last year than Apple did iPhones, with the popularity of its Galaxy models helping the Korean company sell a record 300 million handsets.
“They have such a good product line from top to bottom,” said Kim Chang Yeul, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities. “The economic slowdown won’t be much of an issue for their phone sales. Only Samsung and Apple phones are selling these days.” Operating profit was 5.3 trillion won.
Samsung lost a patent ruling in Germany in a mobile technology case brought against Apple, a week after judges rejected a similar bid by the South Korean company against the iPad maker. – (Bloomberg)
