Samsung has released figures for its 2014 fourth-quarter performance, revealing a strong demand for high-margin memory chips and overall earnings that exceeded the expectations of financial analysts.
Although several reports prior to the period priced the company's expected earnings at 4.8 trillion won, Samsung disclosed in its regulatory filing that its operating income was in fact 5.2 trillion won, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.
"Earnings came better than thought, largely because of a stronger performance at its component businesses, such as chips and panels, combined with the foreign-exchange effect," said CIMB Group Holdings analyst Lee Do Hoon, according to the site.
"The Note 4 had a positive impact on Samsung's component units in the quarter, which largely helped offset negative factors came from its mobile and TV businesses."
Samsung's unexpected success was largely due to its significant growth within the memory chip industry. The company's mobile phone industry, however, has not fared out as well.
Competitor companies among the ranks of Apple and Xiaomi have begun to dominate the mobile device field, accruing larger quantities of sales internationally compared to Samsung.
Recently it was announced that Xiaomi sold more than 61.12 million phones in 2014, making it one of the top smartphone vendors in the world. The rapidly-growing company based in China also plans to unveil a new, ultra-thin smartphone that is said to rival Samsung's flagship Galaxy brand as well as Apple's iPhone.
Samsung, nonetheless, continues to grow in popularity in Europe and North America, where the majority of its international customer lie.
