Samsung sees record 3Q smartphone sales, beats Apple

Samsung Electronics reported another record performance in its mobile business in this year`s third quarter, with sales exceeding 30 trillion won (27.32 billion U.S. dollars) and operating profit reaching more than 5 trillion won (4.55 billion dollars).

In the same quarter, the company sold more than 50 million smartphones for the first time, and its quarterly sales of mobile phones, including feature phones, also surpassed 100 million units, another record.

Despite the prolonged doldrums in the world economy, the Korean tech giant announced quarterly sales of 52.18 trillion won (47.52 billion dollars), up 26 percent year-on-year and 10 percent quarter-on-quarter, while operating profit hit 8.12 trillion won (7.4 billion dollars), up 91 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Samsung has broken performance records for two consecutive quarters.

Though the company did not quote the number of mobile phones sold in the third quarter, sales of both smartphones and mobile phones overall posted quarterly highs, according to a market research agency.

According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung maintained its top global ranking among smartphone manufacturers by selling 56.9 million units in the third quarter, or 35.2 percent of the market. For mobile phone sales that include those of feature phones, the Korean company had a market share of 23.7 percent by selling 105.4 million units.

Thanks to its outstanding performance, Samsung`s mobile division earned 29.92 trillion won (27.25 billion dollars) in sales, up 67 percent year-on-year and accounting for 57 percent of the company`s overall sales. Operating profit was 5.63 trillion won (5.13 billion dollars), up 132 percent and representing 69 percent of overall sales. The wireless communications business takes up about 88 percent of the IM division.

Apple announced its third-quarter performance Thursday. According to IDC and Apple, Samsung sold more than twice as many smartphones than Apple, which sold 26.9 million units in the third quarter. The gap between the two companies has widened as the number of units sold in the third quarter increased to 30 million from 22.7 million units in the second quarter.

The sales gap between both tech giants tripled year-on-year as Samsung sold 11 million more smartphones than Apple in last year`s third quarter. Samsung’s operating profit, however, trailed Apple’s 8.2 billion dollars though the gap was narrowed.

nex@donga.com