The Samsung record profit for the third quarter is big enough to change how investors see the company. Samsung Electronics said on Oct. 8 that operating profit was about 107.40 trillion won on sales of about 195 trillion won. That comes from its earnings guidance. Final results were due Oct. 29, so the figures below are preliminary.
The numbers behind the Samsung record profit
Samsung’s release lists last year’s third quarter at sales of 86.06 trillion won and operating profit of 12.17 trillion won. Sales are up about 127% from there. Operating profit is up about 782%, or roughly 8.8 times last year’s level. Those percentages are our calculation from the company’s table. For reference, the second quarter of 2026 had sales of 171.5 trillion won and operating profit of 89.49 trillion won.
Korean disclosure rules don’t allow earnings estimates as a range, the company noted. So the headline figures are midpoints. The ranges behind them are 194 trillion to 196 trillion won for sales and 107.3 trillion to 107.5 trillion won for operating profit. The Korea Times converted the profit to about $80.28 billion. It called this the first quarterly operating profit above 100 trillion won for a Korean company.
Memory chips are doing the work
Analysts estimate the memory business earned about 110 trillion won in operating profit, according to the Korea Times. That is more than the whole company’s total. It works because other divisions are weak. The report says HBM4 sales for Nvidia’s Vera Rubin AI platform were expected to contribute fully this quarter. DRAM prices kept rising at double-digit rates, though more slowly than last quarter. A growing share of long-term supply agreements is seen as making earnings steadier.
Profit beat the brokerage consensus of 106.64 trillion won. Sales missed the 200.64 trillion won forecast, the same report says. So the profit came from price and mix, not a surge in volume.
The weak side of the business
Samsung’s Device Experience division includes phones and appliances. The Korea Times reports it is expected to post a second straight quarterly operating loss, somewhere between 1.1 trillion and 2.64 trillion won across brokerages. It cites IDC data showing global smartphone shipments fell 7.4% in the second quarter. An analyst expects third-quarter shipments to drop another 8% to 58 million units. Weak demand is tied to memory shortages and to consumers replacing devices less often.
That is the odd part of this boom. The memory shortage lifts Samsung’s chip profits. It also raises costs for device makers, including Samsung’s own phone unit. For another chipmaker’s AI spending, see our Intel earnings preview. For the consumer-device side, see our Apple earnings preview.
What to watch in the final results
When the final report arrives, check whether division figures match analyst estimates. Look at memory profit and the size of the device loss. Also look for comments on 2027 supply. Analyst Kim Sun-woo of Meritz Securities expects supply limits to become more visible in 2027, which would sharpen competition for memory chips. If prices stay high, this Samsung record profit could repeat. If capacity catches up, it may prove to be a peak.
Share-price moves are a separate matter. Market notes on Thursday morning mentioned a decline in Samsung shares. It is unclear whether that reflected the final results, so we are not drawing conclusions from it here.
Editor’s take
Watch the device division, not just the chip windfall. A Samsung record profit built on one product line is impressive, and fragile. The same shortage lifting memory prices is hurting the phone business. So results depend on how long the squeeze lasts. Treat the 107 trillion won as a measure of the cycle, not a new normal.
