Samsung Electronics profits boosted by smartphone sales

Samsung Electronics has reported a 41% jump in profit for the first quarter, boosted by growing smartphone sales.

Samsung's latest smartphone, Galaxy S4, is set to hit the stores on Saturday. 

It made a net profit of 7.15tn won ($6.4bn; £4.2bn) during the period, up from 5.05tn won a year ago. Profits also rose from the previous quarter.

The results are in sharp contrast with rival Apple, which earlier this week reported a drop in quarterly profits for the first time in a decade.

Bryan Ma of research firm IDC said that the South Korean firm was doing "very very well right now".

"They have a lot of momentum behind what they are doing around phones, and clearly from a consumer perspective, they have a lot of excitement around their devices.

"They have a lot of their competitors wondering what they are going to do."

Samsung's latest smartphone offering, the Galaxy S4, is set to hit the stores on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Samsung's biggest rival, Apple, is not expected to introduce a new iPhone model at least till the latter half of the year.
Source: BBC Posted by Unknown 4/26/2013