For the year as a whole, Samsung plans to increase handset shipments by 32% to 150 million units, which would give it a 13.3% share of a market that it estimates will total 1.13 billion units.
Assuming that Motorola, which does not expect to make a profit on its handset business this year, continues its decline, the Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung will be firmly established as the number-two vendor behind market leader Nokia.
With average selling prices of $148 was well down on the $167 a year ago, while the handset business increased sales by 5% to KRW 4.23tr ($4.6bn), the operating profit for its telecoms business as a whole was down 13% to KRW 350bn ($381m).
Samsung said the increase in shipments was due to strong sales of high-end products and mass models in emerging markets. Looking ahead, it said that emerging market demand in places such as China and India will sustain strong growth and it expects a 15% growth in 3G handsets.
Electronics conglomerate Samsung has had a tougher time in its chip operations, and excess capacity for memory left semiconductor sales down 4% in the quarter to KRW 4.26tr ($4.6bn), while operating profit plunged 67% to KRW 330bn ($362.6m).
