SEOUL, South Korea-No. 3 mobile-phone maker Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. turned in another major quarter, with revenues reaching $10.9 billion in the fourth quarter and net income hitting $1.6 billion. Revenue was up 14.4 percent from the previous quarter.
Samsung said its high dependency on DRAMs and mobile phones has been mitigated, as its product portfolio is now more evenly spread over other key business areas, such as TFT-LCDs, flash memory and digital TVs.
In the company’s telecommunications business, which includes its mobile-phone division, Samsung reported revenues increasing by 5.4 percent quarter on quarter. The company said robust demand for high-end handsets with camera and camcorder capabilities drove revenue in the telecommunications division to a new quarterly record of $3.3 billion. Samsung shipped 16 million phones in the quarter and scored an operating margin of 18.5 percent, just below industry leader Nokia Corp.
Samsung’s standing in the world’s mobile-phone market will be determined next week following quarterly reports from Nokia and Motorola Inc.
