Boost in Galaxy Nexus Sales Contributes to Strong 2011 Finish for Samsung
South Korean manufacturer Samsung ended the previous year on a high note, as fourth quarter profits were boosted to record levels, thanks to better-than-expected sales for both the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S2 smartphones.
It turns out that estimates culled by Bloomberg (approximately 4.6 trillion won) were a bit on the conservative side. In the months of October to December 2011, Samsung turned out a profit of $4.5 billion, equivalent to 5.2 trillion won. For the entire year, the number of smartphones sold by Samsung exceeded 300 million, largely due to the Galaxy Nexus’ strong showing.
Although, there have been no published sales statistics for the Galaxy Nexus, experts estimate the number of Galaxy smartphones shipped in the fourth quarter of last year at 32 million. This marks a generous increase from the 2010 Q4 figure of 27.8 million handsets shipped. By any measure, this is a sizable chunk out of the above-mentioned 300 million smartphones sold.
Another positive factor contributing to Samsung’s huge uptick in profits was the one-time sale of their Seagate hard drive division. Seagate was sold in April 2011, generating about $1.38 billion worth of cash and stock.
As of now, Apple arguably remains the industry leader in the smartphone market. Can Samsung pose even more of a challenge in 2012? Based on the above figures, this seems highly likely.
Despite Apple’s best efforts to improve its products and win patent wars, they may have additional trouble holding off Samsung this year, with the continuing success of the Galaxy line.
Related posts: