Samsung Electronics enjoyed a record fourth quarter, and it has big rival Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) to thank for the “assist”.
The South Korean technology behemoth said it expects to post an operating profit of 15,100bn Korean won (about US$14.1bn) for the fourth quarter, up 64% year-on-year, thanks in part to soaring demand for its technology components.
Fourth quarter numbers to be released end Jan
Those components include flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens and also memory chips, such as those used in Apple iPhones.
Despite hitting record levels, the profit figure came in about 1,00bn won short of analysts’ expectations.
Fourth quarter sales of 66,000bn won also came up shy of estimates; analysts had pencilled in a figure of US$67,600bn for sales.
The world’s biggest memory chip maker will release its official figures for the fourth quarter at the end of this month.