Despite the internal turmoil that saw its heir-apparent sentenced to five years in prison on corruption charges and the resignation of its vice-chairman, Samsung had a great 2017 and posted record profits for Q4.
Samsung's revenue for the last quarter was $62 billion with an operating profit of $14 billion. The company recorded a 64 percent YoY increase, making this its most profitable quarter ever. Overall, the tech giant brought in a full-year profit of $50.7 billion on the back of $225 billion in revenue.
Once again, it was Samsung's memory and display businesses that stood out. There was increased demand for OLED panels for premium smartphones like the iPhone X---Samsung provides the panels for Apple's high-end handset. Looking forward, the company expects "OLED to become a mainstream panel in the smartphone industry" this year.
2017 also saw Samsung's chipset division gross a total revenue of $69 billion. This figure beat Intel's $62.8 billion, meaning the US firm has now been replaced as the world's largest chipmaker for the first time since 1992.
Despite the record profits in Q4, Samsung's mobile division saw a decrease in smartphone shipments during this period "due to the lineup optimization of low-end models." But sales of flagship models like the Galaxy Note 8 were up from the previous quarter. Operating profit for the division was down to $2.25 billion from $2.3 billion in Q4 2016 due to an increase in marketing costs over the holiday season.
Samsung believes its mobile division will recover in the first quarter of 2018 thanks to a "growing replacement demand for premium smartphones." It has high hopes for the Galaxy S9, which will launch on February 25th.