Samsung Earns Record Quarterly Profit

Samsung announced that it has recorded a quarterly profit of $7.9 billion for the last quarter of 2012. The record profit is sweeter because it happened at a time when Apple iPhone 5 was launched.

Analysts initially estimated that Samsung would post an operating profit of 8.5 trillion won. Samsung, however, defied expectations and earned 8.8 trillion won (or $7.9 billion). Samsung did not say how much its net income was.

Analysts believe that Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II were the driving force behind the record profit. The mobile business of Samsung, in fact, doubled compared to a year ago despite the introduction of iPhone 5 in the market.

Samsung appeared to have also benefitted from the slow sales of iPhone 5 and the glitches of its mapping software.

Tong Yang Securities analyst Park Hyun said Samsung smartphones enjoyed brisk sales while iPhone 5 sales were sluggish. He added that Apple is no longer as popular as before.

Apple was expected to sell as many as 50 million units of iPhone 5 but failed to live up to expectations. The company is also battling Samsung in global court for several patent suits.

Samsung is likely to launch its Galaxy S4 device by the second quarter this year.