Samsung Electronics made an operating profit of KRW 107.4 trillion between July and September, on revenue of KRW 195.3 trillion. The company says no tech firm has earned more than KRW 100 trillion in a single quarter before.
Almost all of it came from chips. The phone and networks business, meanwhile, finished the quarter in the red, and the company is already planning for shipping fewer handsets next year.
Memory made nearly the whole profit
Samsung’s results release puts the chip division’s profit at KRW 106.5 trillion, against KRW 107.4 trillion for the whole group. The memory business had its best quarter ever for both sales and profit, helped by HBM4 sales and server SSD demand. Samsung expects AI-related demand to outrun industry supply in 2027.
| Division | Revenue | Operating profit |
|---|---|---|
| Device Solutions (chips) | KRW 147.1 trillion | KRW 106.5 trillion |
| Samsung Display | KRW 8.0 trillion | KRW 1.1 trillion |
| MX and Networks (phones) | KRW 37.7 trillion | loss of KRW 0.6 trillion |
| TVs and appliances | KRW 13.9 trillion | loss of KRW 0.2 trillion |
Why the phone unit is losing money
Revenue in the phone business rose from the previous quarter and a year earlier, driven by the new flagships including the foldables. Profit improved on the quarter but fell year on year, and Samsung blames cost pressures. Memory is the obvious suspect: the release itself says market prices rose across applications this quarter.
An Android Authority report on the earnings call quotes MX executive Daniel Araujo warning that the squeeze from component prices will last into 2027. Fewer Samsung phones will ship next year, the report says, with cheaper models taking the biggest hit.
What Samsung says comes next for Galaxy
For the October to December quarter, Samsung is leaning on the Galaxy S26 series, the Galaxy Z Fold8 and the Z Fold8 Ultra. Its 2027 plan for phones has three parts: a richer mix of flagships, hardware and form-factor changes that make the devices more desirable, and tighter operations to keep profit from falling too far.
The call gave a few hints about the next Galaxy S line. Android Authority says Samsung wants each model to have a distinct identity for a different type of buyer, with privacy displays, battery life and processor performance named as focus areas. Samsung did not use the name Galaxy S27 on the call, the report adds, and Samsung is also studying a TriFold and other shapes of device for 2027.
On the component side, Samsung says its System LSI unit will keep producing 200MP image sensors in the fourth quarter. Samsung Display wants a bigger share of premium panels such as foldables in 2027, while warning that overall display demand looks weak.
The release gives no price changes for individual markets, so what the squeeze means for Galaxy prices in any country is still unannounced. Samsung’s fourth-quarter numbers will show whether the phone unit recovers.
