Samsung Q1 profits beat expectations
Analysts predicted that Samsung's earnings would hit a new high in the current quarter when its latest smartphone, the Galaxy S4, hits the market.
"We expect some 22m Galaxy S4 smartphones to be sold in the second quarter alone," said Seo Won-Seok, an analyst at Korea Investment and Securities.
Counterpoint Technology Market Research said last month that it expected Samsung, which overtook Nokia as the world's largest mobile-phone maker last year, to top sales of 70m smartphones during the first three months of this year.
The market research firm estimated Apple's iPhone sales to reach 35m during the same period, although Apple is considered by analysts to be twice as profitable as Samsung in terms of gross profit margin.
"Samsung still lags behind Apple in the high-end market," which is where the money is," Lee Sun-Tae, an analyst at NH Investment and Securities told Dow Jones.
Tensions between South Korea and its northern neighbour have also weighed on the company's share price, as Samsung is considered a bellwether for the economy.
"Samsung will continue to show good earnings with smartphone sales and the chip (price) recovery. But its shares are sluggish because foreign investors are dumping the bellwether on North Korean risks," said Song Myung-Sub at HI Investment & Securities.
Samsung unveiled the fourth series of its Galaxy smartphone line-up at a New York launch event in March and is set to roll out the device starting this month.
The Android-based handset comes with a 5-inch screen, a faster chip and is thinner and lighter than the previous Galaxy S3 model
Samsung's full results including net profit and breakdown figures for each division will be released later this month.
The shares closed flat, at 1.5m won.
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