Samsung Electronics has smashed its record for the highest profit in a single quarter, according to guidance issued by the company today. Samsung expects to have made 17.5 trillion won ($15.5 billion) in operating profit off 65 trillion won ($57.5 billion) in revenue in the third quarter of 2018, a 20 percent increase year on year and nearly 12 percent higher than the company’s previous record of 15.64 million won from the first quarter of this year.
Samsung doesn’t give a detailed breakdown of its various businesses’ performance until the full earnings release, so we’ll have to wait to see what has propelled the company to these new heights. With the Galaxy S9 disappointing in sales, though, components such as displays and memory are likely to be the main drivers. The third quarter is often important for new device launches; Apple releasing two new iPhone models with high-end Samsung-supplied OLED screens can’t have hurt the bottom line, for example.