Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) succeeded in boosting revenue in its mobile business, buoyed by the early success of its new Galaxy S26 smartphone series launched at the start of the year.
Samsung said Thursday that revenue at its Device eXperience (DX) Division, which oversees smartphones and home appliances, reached 52.7 trillion won ($38.7 billion), a slight 2% increase from a year earlier. First-quarter operating profit came in at 3 trillion won ($2.2 billion).
The growth was driven by the strong initial performance of the Galaxy S26, which was released globally on the 11th of last month. Within the DX Division, the Mobile eXperience (MX) Business accounted for most of the performance with revenue of 38.1 trillion won ($27.9 billion).
The Galaxy S26 set a record for the highest sales ever in Korea, and in the United States, sales over the three weeks following its launch rose 29% from the previous model. In the U.S., the share of the top-tier Galaxy S26 Ultra climbed to 71%, shifting the product mix toward higher-margin models.
Affected by chipflation — the surge in memory chip prices — and rising raw material costs stemming from the Middle East war, operating profit at the MX Business slipped slightly from a year earlier to 2.8 trillion won ($2.05 billion). As a result, operating profit at the DX Division fell 36% to 3 trillion won.
The Visual Display (VD) and Digital Appliances (DA) businesses, which handle home appliances, posted revenue of 14.3 trillion won ($10.5 billion) and operating profit of 200 billion won ($147 million), remaining at levels similar to a year earlier.
