South Korea's Samsung Electronics has reported a record operating profit of 5.3 trillion won ($4.72 billion) in the fourth quarter, thanks largely to booming smartphone sales.
The company also announced a 25 trillion won investment in its chipmaking and panel-making business.
But the world's largest technology firm by revenue slipped to back second place behind rival Apple in terms of smartphone sales, according to research.
Samsung's telecoms businesses accounted for 2.64 trillion won out of the total quarterly operating profit, with the flagship Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note brands largely credited for the strong result.
"Despite intensified competition amid the global economic slowdown, our telecommunications businesses continued to post solid earnings with an enhanced line-up of high-end smartphones, resulting in higher average selling price," said senior vice-president Robert Yi in a statement.
The overall quarterly operating profit figure, a 76% increase year-on-year, was largely in line with the earnings guidance issued early this month by the firm. Revenue in October-December was up 13% from a year earlier, while net profit of four trillion won was up 17% on a year earlier.
For the whole of last year the company logged a net profit of 13.7 trillion won, down 15% from the previous year. Revenue rose 6.7% to a record 165 trillion won.
Samsung overtook Apple in the third quarter of last year to become the world's largest seller of smartphones. But Apple reclaimed the crown in the October-December period thanks to its new iPhone 4S, but the Korean firm was the top smartphone brand for all of 2011, according to data from two research firms.
