Things are looking up at Samsung, with memory market sales coming back and demand for premium smartphones in particular foldables on the rise.
At the same time their appliance and TV divisions are struggling.
The mobile division saw strong sales for its flagship models alongside healthy demand for mobile displays and the Companies A series that is set to get wireless charging next year according to Samsung sources in South Korea.
Samsung’s memory business reduced losses due to increased demand for its products and a higher average selling prices.
Net income totalled US$4.1 billion in the September quarter, more than double expectations.
Samsung’s chip division posted a 3.75 trillion won operating loss, narrower than the 4.4 trillion won loss a quarter earlier.
On a conference call management claimed that artificial intelligence is driving demand in the tech industry, and memory chip inventories are rapidly declining after peaking in May.
In the past the $160 billion memory chip market has been battered by a downturn in demand for smartphones and personal computers, the most important products that incorporate the semiconductors from Samsung.The company’s display division, which makes mobile screens for the likes of Apple’s new iPhone 15, more than doubled operating profit to 1.94 trillion won from the previous quarter.
The mobile division, reported $22.26 billion in consolidated revenue and $2.25 billion in operating profit which is up 1.85% on the yearly basis and 8.8% up compared to Q2.
The small recovery was driven by improved consumer demand for smartphones.
Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S23 series and latest generation foldables continued to see strong demand and maintained solid momentum from the previous quarter.
Samsung is expecting even more growth in the smartphone market heading into Q4 holiday season.
In addition, tablet demand is also expected to rise alongside wireless accessories like TWS earbuds and smartwatches.
Daniel Araujo, vice president at the mobile division, said foldables will be “a key engine” for Samsung’s growth in the near future.
And in a hint of what coming next, he said “We’re open to the possibility of expanding the foldable category from only smartphones into other product groups like laptops and tablets,” he said.
