Samsung to push for foldable phone popularization 

Samsung Electronics said on Thursday it posted 12.35 trillion won in operating profit and almost 66.96 trillion won in sales in the third quarter of 2020.

Operating profits was its highest in two years and sales was its highest ever for a quarter, Samsung said.

The mobile business contributed 4.45 trillion won in operating profits, a rise of 1.54 trillion won from the same time period a year ago.

Samsung said efficient management of costs including those for marketing helped profitability.

At the conference call for the quarter, the company said it plans to expand the price range of foldable smartphones and continue strengthen its portfolio in the area in 2021.

Though foldable smartphones account for little in total smartphone sales, it will continue to grow every year, Samsung said.

For the fourth quarter of 2020, the company is expecting sales and profitability to both drop compared to the third quarter due to intensified competition among competitions from year’s end sales.

Samsung’s consumer business posted 1.56 trillion won in operating profits, which soared by 1 trillion won compared to a year ago. It is the business’ best quarterly performance since the second quarter of 2016 when it posted 1 trillion won in operating profits.

The South Korean tech giant said pent up demand following the COVID-19 pandemic spurred growth.

People familiar with the matter said Samsung likely sold some 15 million units of TV during the quarter, near double the shipment in the second quarter. Fourth quarter shipment will likely even be higher, they said.

Samsung Display meanwhile contributed 0.47 trillion won in operating profits.

The display unit of Samsung said it was considering extending the production of liquid crystal display (LCD). It has previously said it planned to exit the LCD business within this year.

The extension of its LCD business will not reflect its schedule to launch Quantum Dot (QD) displays next year, the company said.

Samsung’s semiconductor business posted 5.54 trillion won in operating profits for the quarter.

Remote work and online education saw demand rise for memory chips in mid-tier notebooks. Demand from mid-tier smartphones for memory products were also high during the quarter, the company said.

Huawei’s inventory buildup also helped with profits, Samsung said.

Meanwhile, Samsung is expected to expand its CAPEX for semiconductors next year close to 30 trillion won.