Operating profit for the quarter came in at 6.6 trillion won, or approximately $4.48 billion, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. While essentially flat from a year earlier — down 0.15 percent — the figure beat market expectations by more than 33 percent.
Revenue rose 9.84 percent year-on-year to 79 trillion won, the second-highest quarterly revenue in the company’s history.
The results surprised analysts, who had forecast an operating profit of around 4.9 trillion won, amid persistent concerns about weak demand in key markets. But strong sales of the Galaxy S25 smartphone series and resilient shipments of DRAM memory chips helped lift earnings.
The first-quarter performance marked a return to growth after two straight quarters of declining profits. In the previous quarter, Samsung posted 6.49 trillion won in operating income.
Stronger-than-expected demand for memory chips, particularly in China, played a key role in the rebound. A government-backed “trade-in” subsidy program boosted handset sales in the country by 15 percent year-on-year, helping to reduce chip inventories.
“Samsung is likely entering a phase where it will pass through earnings in the second quarter,” said Han Dong-hee, an analyst at SK Securities. “While the Galaxy S25 momentum will dissipate and display performance will inevitably weaken during the off-season, this can be offset by rebounding memory shipments and rising DDR5 contract prices.”
Analysts, however, warn that high-value semiconductor products such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) are unlikely to contribute meaningfully to near-term revenue.
Additionally, the fading impact of the S25 launch, along with possible disruptions from the U.S. tariffs, may dampen second-quarter performance.
Although memory prices are showing early signs of recovery, analysts expect the gains to be moderate.
“Even if mainstream memory product prices rebound, both the magnitude and duration of increases are likely to be more modest than market expectations,” one industry observer said.
reporter
Kim Dong-young
davekim0807@ajupress.com
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