Samsung's Smartphone Business Profits Rebound
Samsung Electronics' smartphone business division posted nearly 3 trillion won in operating profits in the third quarter of this year thanks to the flagship phone Galaxy Note 10.
Samsung Electronics announced on Oct. 31 that the IM Business Division in charge of the smartphone business recorded 29.25 trillion won in sales and 2.92 trillion won in operating profits in the third quarter. Its operating profit was up about 87 percent from 1.5 trillion won in the second quarter. The figure also represented an increase of about 31 percent from 2.2 trillion won in the same period of last year and exceeds the securities industry's estimates.
The Galaxy Note 10 took the lead in Samsung's earnings recovery. The flagship phone surpassed one million units in sales in Korea in 25 days after its launch, the shortest period among the Galaxy models. Global sales are expected to top 10 million units in the first year of its launch.
As the Galaxy Note 10 is a high-priced 5G phone retailing between 1,248,500 won and 1,496,000 won, it had a bigger impact on Samsung’s earnings improvement in the smartphone business. The IM Business Division will see its earnings continue to grow in the years to come if 5G services spread and high-priced 5G flagship phones continue to achieve a high sales volume.