Smartphones Power Samsung to Record Quarterly Profit

Reuters: Samsung Electronics has estimated its fourth quarter profits at 5.2 trillion won ($4.5 billion). That beat analyst expectations of 4.7 trillion won in profits, and it marked a new record high for the company. It’s also a 22 percent improvement over the company’s third quarter numbers. Much of the good news is due to brisk sales of Samsung’s smartphones–the company’s smartphone shipments are estimated at 35 million for the quarter.

In the previous quarter, Samsung passed Apple to become the world’s top smartphone manufacturer. The Korean firm is Asia’s largest technology company by market cap, and it is the world’s largest technology firm by revenue.