Bolstered by their memory chip division, Samsung reported an operating profit of $8.75 Billion in the first quarter of 2017. It is their highest quarterly profit since 2013. The chip division accounted for $5.58 Billion in profit while overall revenue for the entire company was up 2% according to the report from Reuters.
The trend of profits should continue for Samsung in this quarter and the smartphone division should play a significant role in it. The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are shipping now and both are doing excellent in sales and pre-sales. Indeed, pre-sales of the S8 lineup has already outpaced the popular S7 an S7 Edge from last year.
All of this is good news for the South Korean giant who has been under scrutiny as of late. Their Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee has been indicted for political corruption & bribery charges in the country and few in the smartphone world will let them forget the fire-prone Galaxy Note7 from last year. Clearly though the company has continued to thrive in these challenging times and it speaks to just how diverse Samsung is as a company. They can absorb a global recall of a phone and still report profits thanks to over divisions in the company.
With the smartphone division ramping up thanks to the Galaxy S8, expect the 2nd quarter to be just as impressive.
