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Despite exploding phones and corruption scandals, Samsung has reported its highest profit jump for three years.
The tech giant made an operating profit of 9.22 trillion won (£6.32 billion) on total revenue of 53.3 trillion won (£3.56 bn) in Q4 of 2016. The full-year operating profit was 29.24 trillion won (£20 bn).
Read more: Samsung officially blames faulty batteries for Note 7's failure
Samsung said its Q4 earnings were driven by the memory business and display panel segment, which manufactures OLED and LCD screens.
Despite the furore around the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung's mobile sector registered gains in sales year-on-year. Before the flagship phone was released in the UK last year, US models of the handset started going up in flames when charging. Yesterday, Samsung officially announced battery manufacturing issues were to blame.
However, despite the company registering gains in mobile, thanks to the on-going popularity of the Galaxy S7 and Samsung’s mid-range smartphones, Samsung Electronics – the unit mobile falls under - saw sales drop two per cent, while profit was down 60 per cent over the same period. This has been linked to the first recall of the Galaxy Note 7, which reportedly cost the firm $2bn (£1.61bn) in replacement models, and share price drops.
In terms of mobile, Samsung has said it will “prioritise consumer safety” and, because it expects the global smartphone market to slow down this year, will focus on new services such as artificial intelligence. This points to the company’s acquisition of Viv, an AI platform from the creators behind Apple’s Siri.
Looking to the future, the South Korean company wants to strengthen its position in the premium TV market, as announced at CES 2017. Its latest QLED TVs have been designed to boost colours using Samsung’s Quantum dots. The screens will be powered by its trademark new Smart TV hub.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
