Samsung likely to overtake Apple after blockbuster earnings in quarter
Seoul — On Thursday, South Korea’s Samsung posted record quarterly earnings, putting it on course to overtake Apple as the world’s most profitable technology firm, as it seeks to move past a bribery scandal and 2016’s recall debacle. The firm said huge sales of its new Galaxy S8 smartphone and demand for its memory chips were behind the jump in April-June and predicted another blockbuster report for the current quarter to September. It said operating profit soared a forecast-beating 72.9% from the previous year to 14.07-trillion won ($12.6bn), compared with consensus forecasts of $10.6bn for the US’s Apple, which is due to report next week. However, Greg Roh, an analyst at HMC Investment Securities, said: "Samsung has surpassed its rivals for now but Apple usually sees little fluctuation in its profits whereas Samsung’s profits fluctuate largely on memory chip prices." The world’s top maker of smartphones and memory chips also said net profit surged almost 90% to 11.05-trillion won,...
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