Compared to last year, Samsung’s profit in the first quarter of this year has increased almost tenfold

Profit after tax, which excludes dividends payable to preferred stockholders, rose to 6.62 trillion won (about US$4.8 billion) this year from 1.40 trillion Korean won last year.

First-quarter operating income also rose to 6.61 trillion won from 0.64 trillion won last year, driven by the profit earned by the memory unit to meet increased demand for high-value-added products.

According to the company, the mobile devices, video playback devices and digital devices divisions also earned more profit.

As demand for its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S24, continued to decline and the price of memory semiconductors rose, sales turnover rose from 63.75 trillion won last year to 71.92 trillion won in the first quarter.

According to the company, the memory division has returned to profitability as its service quality has increased to meet demand for server, data storage, PC and mobile products, and it has increased its focus on high-value-added products such as HBM, DDR5, server SSDs and UFS 4.0.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, the industry is expected to continue to perform at a steady pace, driven primarily by demand for generative artificial intelligence.

Demand for mobile phones is forecast to remain stable in the coming quarter, while PC sales volumes will be affected by seasonality, which will require adjustments to existing inventory before new product launches are expected in the second half of the year.

Due to seasonality, overall smartphone demand should also decline in the second quarter.

Accordingly, the mobile division predicts fewer smartphones to be sold, while tablet sales should remain the same.

The smartphone market is forecast to see a recovery in the second half of the year due to stable consumer sentiment, the development of AI products and services, and growing emerging market economies.

In the second year of 2024 in the second half of the year, the demand for TVs should gradually increase, although the macroeconomic and geopolitical situation is currently uncertain.