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Samsung outstrips iPhone sales to ring up record profit

28 April 2012 10:14 (UTC +04:00)

APA reports quoting the guardian.co.uk that Samsung sold 44.5m smartphones in the first quarter â€“ to Apple’s 35.1m â€“ boosted by success of Galaxy Note and S2. Samsung sold more smartphones in the first three months of the year than Apple and raked in more than 70% of its operating profit from mobile businesses. Shares in Samsung shot up nearly 3%. Net profit nearly doubled from a year earlier to a record 5.05 trillion won (Â£2.75bn) for the quarter to 31 March. Operating profit also hit a record high, at 5.85 trillion won, which was in line with expectations. Sales rose 22% from a year earlier to 45.3tn won.

Strong demand for high-end smartphones, such as the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy S2 introduced last year, helped mask lower profit from memory chips, another Samsung flagship business. After narrowly beating Apple last year, Samsung’s smartphone sales exceeded Apple’s by a large margin in the first quarter. Strategy Analytics said Samsung became the world’s top smartphone maker, selling 44.5m handsets in the January-March period, followed by Apple’s 35.1m.