If you've somehow missed it, some of the biggest tech companies are sharing their quarterly earnings results this week, and Samsung is no exception. The company has posted its results for the three months ending on March 31, 2021, which constitute the first quarter of its fiscal year, posting 65.39 trillion won ($59.02 billion) in revenue and 9.38 trillion won ($8.47 billion) in operating profit. Revenue set a new record for this time frame for Samsung, and as you might have noticed, that happens a lot with companies as they continue to grow.
The biggest slice of this pie was Samsung's IT & Mobile Communications Division, with 29.21 trillion won ($26.36 billion) in revenue and 4.39 trillion won ($3.96 billion) in operating profit. That means this division accounted for almost 45% of Samsung's revenue and 47% of its profits. That shouldn't be all too surprising, however, seeing as Samsung released the Galaxy S21 flagship family this year, with all three phones earning our praise in reviews. Solid sales of the Galaxy A series, as well as tablets, PCs, and wearables also helped drive these results.
Samsung's semiconductor business was its second biggest in this quarter, posting 19.01 trillion won ($17.16 billion) in revenue and 3.37 trillion won ($3.04 billion) in profit. Samsung says its memory business went down slightly because of increased production costs and lower NAND prices, but DRAM stayed strong and demand for server CPUs increased in this quarter.
The Consumer Electronics Division, which is responsible for Samsung's TVs and home appliances, is next with 12.99 trillion won ($11.72 billion) in revenue and 1.12 trillion won ($1.01 billion) in operating profit. Demand dropped off from the previous quarter due to it being the holiday season, but results were up year-on-year regardless.
Finally, the smallest of Samsung's divisions was the Display Panel Business, which accounted for just 6.92 trillion won ($6.25 billion) in revenue and 0.36 trillion won ($324.92 million) in operating profit. Demand for OLED displays increased year-on-year resulting in stronger earnings, while large displays saw a drop as many production lines are being converted in preparation for next-generation TVs.
One interesting tidbit from Samsung's earnings release is that it expects to maintain profitability for its mobile division in the second quarter by "popularizing foldable models". Samsung has been rumored to be working on multiple foldable phones for this year, including the potential for more affordable models, which could certainly help the form factor have broader appeal. The company also expects to grow sales of other devices in its IT & Mobile division, likely thanks to recent launches like the new Galaxy A series and Galaxy Book Pro laptops announced yesterday.
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