Samsung posts record 38 per cent quarterly profit increase in its smartphone division thanks to strong demand for the Galaxy S
South Korean manufacturer Samsung has reported profit of $1.3 billion in its telecom business for Q4 2010 – a 38 per cent increase on the same period in 2009.
The growth was driven by a strong year-end demand for Samsung smartphones which bought quarterly sales of mobile devices to 80.7 million units – a 17 per cent increase year-on-year.
Yearly handset sales reached 280 million units – a 23 per cent increase which Samsung said “outperformed the market”.
The manufacturers flagship device the Samsung Galaxy S shipped a total of 10 million units and its tablet counterpart the Galaxy Tab also shipped strongly but no figures were given.
Despite the strong end of year growth, Samsung said it expected mobile handset sales to dip slightly in Q1 2011 before strong growth returned toward the year end.
It has set 60 million units as its sales target
Samsung vice president and head of investor relations Robert Yi said: “Despite the difficult business environment including reduced IT demand caused by the economic slowdown, we achieved record-high results both in terms of sales and operating profit in 2010.”
