Samsung beat analyst estimates for its first-quarter earnings on robust demand for its smartphones and consumer electronics, ZDNet reported Thursday.
In the first three months of the year, Samsung posted sales of $59 billion, up 18% from the same quarter last year and a record for its first quarter.
Samsung said net profits were up 47% in January to March from a year earlier to $6.4 billion. "Solid sales of smartphones and consumer electronics outweighed lower earnings from semiconductors and displays," the company said in an earnings report.
The rally in sales was propelled by Samsung's flagship Galaxy S21 smartphone series unveiled in January. The company registered mobile sales of $25.5 billion in the quarter, up 31% from the previous quarter and 13% year-over-year, SiliconAngle said.
"Samsung remains the biggest vendor shipping 77 million smartphones globally in the first quarter, growing 32 percent year-on-year," Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, said.
Where the South Korean tech company struggled in the quarter was with its semiconductor business. Profit was down in the quarter after Samsung's assembly line in Austin, Texas, was knocked offline during a winter storm in February, and a huge drop in prices of NAND memory chips.
In the wake of global chip shortages, Samsung also spent additional cash in the quarter expanding in-house foundries. Samsung's Logic Unit, on the other hand, saw increased supply of image sensors to smartphones but earnings remained unchanged from difficulty in acquiring monitor driver chips because of the shutdown in Austin.
For the second half, market conditions are seen to improve for Samsung's component business. In smartphones and consumer electronics, Samsung will focus on strengthening the premium category leadership, the company said in a news release.
