Samsung Electronics achieved a record-high performance in the third quarter of this year. Unlike market expectations that the growth of its smartphone business would slow, Samsung sustained a record-breaking pace in smartphone sales. Moreover, its semiconductor and telecommunications business, which slipped to supporting roles, reemerged as one of main actors.
The most striking feature in the third-quarter results released by Samsung on October 4 is that its operating profit reached 10.1 trillion won, higher than market estimates of 9.8 trillion won. In particular, given that the third-quarter results include the numbers of July and August when the number of working days is fewer than other months due to summer vacations, Samsung Electronics earned 109.8 billion won per day during the July-September period of this year.
Key factors behind Samsung's record-high results include the strong performance of its IM (IT & Mobile) business which posted an operating profit of 6.5 trillion won, higher than market estimates of 6.3 trillion won. The sales of Samsung smartphones rose to 86 million-89 million units in the third quarter, up over 15 percent compared to a quarter ago.
