Samsung
Electronics has overtaken Apple to become the world’s largest maker of
mobile phones, memory chips and the most profitable tech firm.
The South Korean tech giant's quarterly earnings was released on
Thursday and the figures show that Samsung is on course to overtake Apple
as the world’s most profitable tech firm. The firm said huge sales of its
new Galaxy S8 smartphone and demand for its memory chips were behind the jump
in April-June and predicted another blockbuster report for the current quarter
to September.
Samsung pulled in 61 trillion won ($54.8 billion) in revenue and
14 trillion won ($12.6 billion) in profit for the three months ending June 31.
Apple will release its earnings for the same period next week. Analysts
expect the Apple to report revenue of $44.9 billion and an operating profit of
$10.5 billion.
Though Samsung is the world's leading smartphone maker, it was
bumper demand for memory chips that drove the company's earnings to new
heights. The chips unit posted 8 trillion won ($7.2 billion) in operating
profit, or nearly half the group's total. Analysts expect the momentum to
continue for the rest of the year, driven by the release of Samsung's next
smartphone, the Galaxy Note 8, and sustained demand for memory chips.
However, Greg Roh, an analyst at HMC Investment Securities, told
AFP: "Samsung has surpassed its rivals for now but Apple usually sees
little fluctuation in its profits whereas Samsung's profits fluctuate
largely on memory chip prices."
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