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Samsung posts operating profit of $7.4b for Q3 2012

Samsung posts operating profit of $7.4b for Q3 2012

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Samsung Galaxy S III white (STOCK)
Samsung Galaxy S III white (STOCK)

Samsung has just released its financial results for Q3 2012, and it's a big one. Sales of smartphones and display panels drove up revenues to 52.18 trillion won (about $47.5 billion), a 26 percent increase over the same time frame last year. Operating profits came in at 8.12 trillion won — approximately $7.4 billion, and an all-time high for the company — which amounts to a whopping 91 percent increase from last year.

The mobile communications wing of Samsung accounted for 26.25 trillion won ($23.9 billion) in revenue just unto itself. Making up more than half of the company's total revenue for the quarter, the number no doubt reflects the kind of brisk smartphone sales that Samsung has been proud to note as of late.

Samsung is also reporting that its display panel business reached an operating profit of 1.09 trillion won on revenue of 8.46 trillion won (approximately $1 billion and $7.7 billion, respectively). A 19 percent increase in sales brought the division back into the black when compared to last year's results. Samsung's display panel business has been in the news quite a bit recently, with recent rumors indicating that the company would stop selling its display panels to smartphone rival Apple. Given the upswing here, it's understandable why Samsung recently took steps to tamp down that speculation.

According to the company, sales of LTE devices in particular did start to accelerate in the quarter, but increased competition in the smartphone space limited potential profits. Looking forward Samsung expects increased demand to fuel even more growth, despite economic uncertainties, with Head of Investor Relations Robert Yi saying that "we will do our best to sustain our earnings momentum throughout the fourth quarter by implementing strategies we have developed for our businesses."