Samsung set a new net profit record of 7.15 trillion won ($6.4 billion) in the first quarter of 2013 thanks to strong smartphone sales. That's up from 5.05 trillion won during the same time a year ago and higher than the previous record of 7.04 trillion obtained during the fourth quarter of 2012 - extremely impressive to say the least.
The earnings report showed that operating profit was up 54 percent from the previous year to 8.8 trillion won. Overall sales climbed 16.8 percent, topping out at 52.9 trillion won.
Samsung doesn't release sales figures in their earnings reports but analysts estimate the Korean tech giant shipped around 70 million smartphones in the three month period ending in March.
The company noted that strong sales of the Galaxy S III helped profits but warned that second quarter figures are expected to be lower. Senior vice president Robert Yi said they may experience stiffer competition in the mobile sector due to expansion of the mid- to low-end smartphone market. Perhaps Samsung believes that others like Apple may indeed jump into the budget smartphone race. Of course, it'll be unlikely that earnings will take a missive hit as Samsung will be shipping the Galaxy S 4 during the second quarter - arguably the best Android handset on the market.
Shipments of PCs and televisions were down, however, blamed on weak demand - sentiments that LG echoed in their recent earnings report as well (with regard to the television business).