Samsung has had a great quarter with strong sales in smartphones and tablets.
January 27, 2012- In early Friday trading in Asia, Samsung Electronics Co stock increased to a new record high. Increased sales of smartphones have helped increase the company’s profits. Net income for the consumer electronics giant was up 17% to $3.6 billion. Sales increased 13% during the fourth quarter and were in line with analysts’ estimates.
During 2011, Samsung shipped more mobile handsets than Apple shipped iPhones. Its popular model, Galaxy, has helped the South Korea-based company sell 300 million smartphones, a company record.
Samsung plans to introduce even more handsets and tablet computers into the market. One analyst said Samsung’s products are very good top to bottom and a slowdown in the economy would not affect them.
Net income for the year fell by 15%, while sales for the year increased by 6.7%. Samsung stock has increased 13% over the last 12 months, while the rest of the Korea stock exchange has fallen by 7%.
Samsung led all smartphone makers in market share with 19.9%. Last year Apple had a 19% share of the market. In just the last quarter of 2011, Apple sold more than 37 million iPhones.
Analysts said that Samsung’s sales of smartphones in 2011 were more than quadruple what they had sold in 2010. Most analysts agreed that the only competition in the market today for smartphones is between Apple and Samsung.
