Samsung sold 63 million smartphones in Q4

Samsung Electronics profits in the fourth quarter were a whopping $8.3 billion (£5.1 billion), owing to the sales of Galaxy smartphones, which withstood competition from Apple’s iPhone 5. Samsung’s operating profit hit a record $8.27bn (£5.14bn), rising 88% from a year earlier, while revenues rose 18% to approximately Won56tn (£0.03tn). Samsung sold 500 smartphones a minute with demand for Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III phones skyrocketing in the fourth quarter.

Samsung made the most of iPhone 5 mapping software goof-up as earnings from its mobile-phone unit doubled as compared with previous year. Samsung stocks dropped 1.1% on Tuesday, in a Seoul market that was down 0.4%. Samsung outdid Apple, which launched only one model –  the iPhone 5, by launching 37 variants, tweaked to suit the regional consumers’ preferences, in high-end smartphones to cheaper low-end models.

In the third quarter, Samsung’s Galaxy S III overtook sales of iPhone 4S to become the best-selling smartphone in the world. But in the fourth quarter, the shipments of Galaxy S III slipped to around 15 million from 8 million in July-September, according to analysts’ estimate. But sales of around 8 million Galaxy Note II ‘phablets’ will be enough to push the overall smartphone shipments to around 63 million.

Samsung profits for the current quarter are expected to fall because of decreased phone profits. Samsung plans to launch Galaxy S IV only in March or April and without any new models, phone sales prices are expected to fall this quarter. But for the entire year, HI Investment & Securities analyst Song Myung-sub, estimates that Samsung will launch new models faster than Apple and have the upper hand in the smartphone market.