Samsung posts record earnings in Q4’16 courtesy profitable chip business

Looks like Samsung’s bad luck with Galaxy Note 7 is behind it now. The fourth quarter earnings of the South-Korean tech titan have not only beaten expectations, they are in fact the best for Samsung in over three years.

Samsung expected a 9.2 trillion won ($7.8 billion) operating profit for Q4 2016, but the final figure is slightly bigger despite the Note 7 fiasco. According to the Korean company, it posted a 9.22 trillion won ($7.9 billion) operating profit for October to December 2016 which is 50 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2015 and its highest in over three years courtesy its profitable memory chip business.

“Robust sales of high-end, high-performance memory products and expanded process migration in V-NAND, plus strong shipments of OLED and large-size UHD panels contributed to profitability,” the company said in its official statement.

Samsung made 5 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in operating profit from its semiconductor division alone, thanks to higher demand for memory chips from mobile device makers and server operators.

The company, however, did admit that its numbers were boosted by the weak Korean won since it transacts in US dollars when it comes to its components business. Samsung's mobile business didn't do that badly, as well, due to the solid sales of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge and the company's non-flagship devices.

The quarterly earnings have further been topped off with the earnings call for the complete fiscal year. Samsung has posted that its operating profit increased from 26.41 trillion won (approx $22.7 billion) to 29.24 trillion won (approx $25.12 billion) in this fiscal year. The full-year revenue figure for 2016 also rose to 201.87 trillion won (approx $173.4 billion) from 200.65 trillion won (approx $172.42 billion).

The company is all geared up to release its next flagship the S8 and the Note 8 too. On Monday, it revealed the battery flaws that set a number of Note 7s on fire and ensured taking steps to make Note 8 foolproof.

Samsung will have to deal with less stellar earnings before its new flagships arrive, though. The world’s largest maker of smartphones, television sets and memory chips, said its earnings during the current quarter will likely decline because of weaker TV sales and an increase in marketing expenses for the mobile business.