Samsung Q3 earnings better than expected

This article is more than 12 months old

Oct 09, 2019 06:00 am

SEOUL : Samsung Electronics flagged slightly better than expected Q3 profit yesterday, helped by strong sales of its new Galaxy Note 10 smartphones even as a slump in its memory chip business continued to weigh on earnings.

In a regulatory filing ahead of detailed earnings due later this month, the South Korean tech giant said operating profit for the July to September quarter would likely tumble 56 per cent to 7.7 trillion won (S$8.8 billion).

That was slightly better than the 7.1 trillion won forecast by Refinitiv SmartEstimate data, thanks to sales of the Galaxy 10 series both at home and in Europe.

Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, said it has sold more than one million of the 5G handsets in South Korea, making it the company's fastest selling flagship model at home.

Analysts said Samsung benefited from US sanctions on Huawei that effectively bar US firms from supplying its Chinese rival.

While Samsung has been benefiting from Huawei's woes in terms of smartphone sales, its status as the world's biggest semiconductor firm by revenue also leaves it exposed to its Chinese rival's troubles.