Samsung Earnings Beat Expectations

The world’s largest maker of smartphones reported an operating profit of $10.8 billion on revenues of $55.2 billion for the quarter ending June 30. Those figures represent growth of 54 percent and 20 percent, respectively, over the same quarter one year ago.

Samsung said that smartphone sales were hurt by the global component shortage, the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, and normal weak seasonality. But it was still quite profitable, earning an operating profit of $2.8 billion on revenues of $19.8 billion. And Samsung expects mobile to “recover to pre-COVID levels on an annual basis as 5G adoption and contactless trends continue.”

But the big winner for Samsung this month was its semiconductor business, thanks to “strong demand for server and PC memory, as well as stronger-than-expected increases in average sales prices for both DRAM and NAND chips.” The semiconductor business reported an operating profit of $6 billion on revenues of $19.9 billion. Looking forward, Samsung sees stronger shipments than the year-ago quarter despite the ongoing supply problems.

Samsung has announced an August 11 virtual event at which it is expected to launch the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 folding smartphones alongside a Galaxy S21 Fan Edition and other electronics.