Samsung making over half its cash from its mobes

Samsung won't be leaving the mobe sector in a hurry, as it's now making more than half its money on smartphones, according to its third quarter results.

If Apple was hoping the ongoing patent litigation could help push the Korean chaebol out of the market, it can think again, since Samsung is extremely unlikely to turn its back on operating profits of 2.52 trillion won (£1.4 billion) from a total operating profit of 4.25 trillion won (£2.4 billion) in the third quarter. Its guidance earlier this month anticipated operating profit of between 4 and 4.4 trillion won.

Samsung also said it scored an all-time high with quarterly sales of 14.9 trillion won (£8.3bn) in its mobile business, particularly driven by the Galaxy line-up.

Altogether for the quarter, the company reported a net income of 3.44 trillion won (£1.9bn) down 23 per cent from the third quarter of 2010.

That drop can be laid at the feet of Samsung's chip business, which has been suffering from the poor consumer demand for PCs and the resulting fall in chip prices, yet another reason the firm is likely to have its eggs firmly in its mobile basket as it is a growing business.

“In anticipation of explosive growth in the mobile market, we have been focusing on fostering growth of certain component businesses, such as mobile DRAM, application processors, NAND and OLED panels," said Robert Yi, VP and head of investor relations, in a canned statement. "These industry-leading technologies, combined with our design and software capabilities, have enhanced the competitiveness of our set products.”

Concentrating on mobile chips as well as mobile phones is a smart move for the company, since PC sales have been miserable all year on low demand from consumers, and folk aren't exactly eager to fork over for a new TV either.

With everyone a little more likely to splash out for Christmas in the fourth quarter, Samsung expects flat panel TV shipments to increase, as well as mobile sales staying strong.

However, Yi added: "We cannot rule out the possibility of demand growth slowing compared to previous years." ®