Samsung Profit Up 89%, Sells 500 Phones PER Min

Galaxy up, HTC down: Samsung announce a record profit rise of 89% as it soars on the popularity of its Galaxy smartphones.

Samsung S III V HTC One X. Image: Android Authority.

As Samsung execs attend CES 2013 in Las Vegas looking to woo consumers with its latest tech wares, onlookers were keenly awaiting Samsung’s scheduled 4th quarter (October-December) earnings guidance announcement, which includes the all important Christmas sales period.

The results, just announced, show Samsung beat all analysts expectations, increasing its operating profit by a massive 89% to 8.8 bn won or $7.9 billion, it said in an earnings statement today.

The S III maker sold 500 phones per minute during its final quarter, preliminary results show.

16 analysts polled by Reuters believed the electronics giant, which dabbles in everything from fridges to LCDs and components, would increase its operating profit by 65% to 8.7 trillion won compared to Q4 2011, on the back of its hugely popular Galaxy smartphones including, the recently released Note and Note II phablets.

As the Galaxy S III proved one of the hottest smartphones of 2012, Samsung is set to throttle Apple’s iPhone again this year, Strategy Analytics Neil Lawson predicts an increase to Samsung’s lead “because of its larger multitier product portfolio” – that is releasing a phone for every taste and budget.

Samsung smartphone sales are set to grow by 35% in 2013 to almost 300m (290m), compared to Apple’s 180 million, analysts at Strategy Analytics also predict, which could also be helped by expected release of a new Galaxy S IV later this year.

Samsung’s bottom line has also been buoyed by higher prices and demand for chip components for smartphones, TVs and other devices which Samsung supplies to several companies including arch rival Apple.

But as the Korean giant soars even higher, another mobile company, HTC, is licking its wounds after announcing yet another revenue landslide – dropping over NT40bn to NT$60.0 billion – compared to same qr 2011.

Net profit for the One X maker, who has suffered at the hands of Android darling Samsung, also fell dramatically – by 91% – to NT$1.0 billion.

Samsung will announce its full earnings results later this month.