Post date: Apr 05, 2012 12:26:18 PM
Apple's stock is flying high. But Samsung is playing hardball, pitching fast-selling handsets across all price points.
ASIA-COMPANYASIA - This is probably your smartphone. Or that one. Or maybe this one.
The point is, statistically speaking, it's likely to be a Samsung.
The tech giant catapulted to top spot in global smart phone shipments last year, and its trajectory remains up and away.
Analyst estimates see first quarter shipments rising some 20%, in the ballpark of 44 million handsets.
Yes, 44 million smart phones sold in just three months.
Top analysts surveyed by StarMine suggest operating profit outperforming the consensus estimates, coming in near 4.5 billion U.S. dollars.
Investors have rewarded the firm for its success. It's shares are up some 35 percent in the last 12 months.
Among its rivals, topped only by Apple.
.
CLSA's forecasts suggests the mobile unit is likely to account for some 70 percent of operating profit this quarter.
In other words, Samsung is increasingly a phone-centric firm.
That's part of the reason the firm has just earmarked seven billion dollars for a new semiconductor factory in central China. That will build memory chips for mobile devices.
The good news for investors - it's the more expensive phones that are selling.
Take the Galaxy SII - a big, powerful and expensive beast. It's flown off the shelves faster than any smartphone in the firm's history.
And this trend should translate into higher margins.
Actual earnings will come out near the end of April, but shouldn't prove too different from official guidance and street estimates.
So what's ahead for Samsung?
According to the internet, the Galaxy SIII.
This supposed image was leaked on social website reddit, with a due date of May 22.
And if sales of this new puppy are anything like the SII -- Samsung could be set for yet another blockbuster quarter.