Samsung is the latest company to announce its financial results. Sales topped KRW47 trillion (around US$42 billion) and operating profits topped KRW5.3 trillion (US$4.7 billion). Full year revenues and profits came in at KRW165 trillion (US$147 billion) and KRW16.25 trillion (US$14.5 billion) respectively.
Unlike Apple earlier this week, Samsung did not reveal smartphone shipment numbers but said that global smartphone shipments had increased 30% quarter over quarter. Analyst numbers suggest Samsung sold between 32 and 37 million smartphones in the last quarter, just short of Apple’s 37.04 million iPhones. Whatever the numbers, the mobile division accounted for almost half of the company’s profits thanks in large part to the success of its Galaxy smartphones.
Samsung also expects smartphone growth to continue to grow in 2012 while feature phone growth slows down. LTE will drive some of this demand in developed markets such as the US. At the same time, price competition is expected to intensify. Samsung expects a similar trend in the tablet space: Increased demand but greater pricing pressure.