Samsung expects to record best ever profits in Q4 of 2012

Samsung's accountants are still crunching the numbers for the final quarter of 2012, but the company does have a prediction - it will break its previous record in profits. The device that fueled that growth as it turns out is the Galaxy Note II and not the Galaxy S III.

The Galaxy S III may have overtaken the iPhone 4S for the best-selling smartphone in Q3 with 18 million units, but its sales declined in Q4, falling to "only" 15 million. The Note II picked up the slack though - Samsung sold an estimated 8 million of its second generation phablet.

Samsung, of course, has gone to great lengths to cover the entire spectrum of smartphones - it has whopping 37 smartphones announced last year. Total shipments should be around 63 million.

In comparison, LG introduced 24 new models, HTC has 18, Nokia has 9 and Apple has just the one (the iPhone 5).

Samsung's other businesses - particularly the TV screen and chip making businesses - have picked up as well, resulting in a total revenue of $52.6 billion and an operating profit of $8.3 billion (up 8.6% compared to Q3, which was a record quarter as well). Note that these values are estimates - the full Q4 results will come later this month. Samsung's valuation went up 44% in 2012, beating both the growth of the Korean market and that of Apple.

As far as Q1 of this year, there is some concern that Samsung's record breaking streak will end, though it is projected to sell 290 million smartphones during the full year, up from 215 million in 2012. These numbers come from Strategy Analytics, who put Apple's smartphone sales for 2013 at 180 million.

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