In the week when Apple revealed its first profit drop in a decade, rival Samsung has seen smartphone sales drive its income up 42% to a record high despite a typically slow season for the electronics market.
The South Korean electronics giant made a net profit of 7.15tn won (£4.2bn) during the period, up from 5.05tn won a year ago.
The figure was a surprising 2% increase from the previous quarter. Analysts expected Samsung to report lower profit than the fourth quarter because demand typically slows.
In terms of smartphone sales alone, Samsung profits rose more than 55% to 6.51tn won during the first three months of the year, from a year earlier.
By contrast, Apple’s profit fell 18% on the previous period last year.
Sales of Samsung’s flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III, and ‘phablet’ device Galaxy Note remained strong and shored up profit.
It also spent less on marketing its mobile devices than it did in the previous quarter when competition heated up with rivals.
Sales rose 17 per cent to 52.9 trillion won. Operating profit was up 54 per cent to 8.8 trillion won, in line with its preliminary results released earlier this month.
The company’s outperformance in the mobile market helped offset sluggish demand in the TV market and still weak recovery in display panel sales.
Analysts expect Samsung to report another record-high profit during the April-June quarter as the Galaxy S4, the latest iteration of the Galaxy S smartphone, goes on sales worldwide, months before Apple introduces a new version of the iPhone.
However, Samsung warned that growth in the lower-end smartphone market may slow in the coming months, not least because other manufacturers are also looking to enter the sector.
“We may experience stiffer competition in the mobile business due to expansion of the mid-to-low end smartphone market,” said Robert Yi, head of investor relations at Samsung Electronics.
Samsung’s latest smartphone offering, the Galaxy S4, is set to hit the stores in the UK on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s biggest rival, Apple, is not expected to introduce a new iPhone model at least till the latter half of the year.
Watch this video from the BBC looking at Samsung’s current success and future trends:
