Samsung Estimates First Profit Growth in Two Years Thanks to Sales of Chips, Not Hardware

Samsung this morning announced its forecast predictions for the company's third quarter, suggesting an overall year-over-year profit growth of 79.8 percent, which would be its first since 2013.

The company didn't provide specifics regarding where the profit came from, but analysts speaking with The Wall Street Journal attributed it to the "robust sales" of various chips and displays used in smartphones and other devices throughout the year. Specifically, those analysts believed Samsung's earnings this year are being fueled by the chip sales "due to tight supply and firm pricing."

Overall, the company's chip unit will likely account for nearly half of its total profit in the third quarter of 2015, with the addition of display sales bolstering the rest of its foreseeable monetary gains.

The South Korean technology company said Wednesday its operating profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 likely rose 79.8% to about 7.3 trillion Korean won (US$6.3 billion), its first year-over-year growth since the third quarter of 2013 when the company posted a 26% increase. Revenue likely rose about 7.5% to 51 trillion won.

Analysts were expecting Samsung to post an operating profit of 6.5 trillion won on revenue of 50.5 trillion won, based on a poll of nine analysts.

Most recently, Samsung announced the newest iterations of its smartphone lineup, the Samsung Galaxy Note5 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, whose 5.7-inch displays make them slightly larger than Apple's iPhone 6s Plus and are marketed as a direct competitor to the Cupertino company's large-screened device. Announced and launched in August -- alongside services like Samsung Pay and the new Gear S2 Smartwatch -- the new smartphones were pegged as an early competitor for Apple's iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

But, if the analysts' predictions today are correct, Samsung saw most of its profits from its contribution to chip production within Apple's own smartphone line-up. When initially discovered a few days after the launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the split of A9 chips between Samsung and TSMC met a small wave of controversy, with one iOS developer going so far as to calculate the percentage split between the two manufacturers. Even though the 60/40 percentage was in favor of TSMC, it appears Samsung's chip manufacturing for the 6s and 6s Plus was enough to help in some way boost its overall quarterly growth.