Samsung has broken all records with its financial and operational performance in the first quarter of 2026, as the relentless AI-driven benevolent tailwinds show no sign of losing momentum.
To get an idea of just how wild Q1 2026 was for Samsung, consider that its semiconductor operating profit surged by an unbelievable 48x year-over-year on record-breaking demand for memory products, with total operating profit exploding by 756 percent on an annual basis.
Samsung Electronics Q1 2026 earnings highlights
Here are the main highlights of Samsung's latest earnings disclosure:
- Quarterly sales of 133.9 trillion won ($90.13 billion) vs. a consensus estimate of 117.49 trillion won, and sales of 79.14 trillion won in Q1 2025.
- Total quarterly operating profit of 57.23 trillion won ($38.54 billion) vs. a consensus estimate of 38.23 trillion won, and an operating profit of just 6.69 trillion won in Q1 2025.
- Semiconductor (DS segment) sales of 81.7 trillion won ($55 billion), up 86 percent sequentially and 225 percent on a year-over-year basis.
- Sales of memory products amounted to 74.8 trillion won ($50.38 billion), up 101 percent sequentially and 292 percent on a year-over-year basis.
- Semiconductor operating profit of 53.7 trillion won ($36.18 billion) vs. just 1.1 trillion won in Q1 2025, which corresponds to a growth of 48.8x!
- Mobile (MX) sales of 37.5 trillion won, up 33 percent sequentially and 4 percent on a year-over-year basis.
- Mobile and Networking Business (NW) operating profit of 2.8 trillion won, up by 0.9 trillion won sequentially but down by 1.5 trillion won on a year-over-year basis.
Commentary
Do note that Samsung had pre-released its quarterly sales and total operating profit figures. Even so, the full scale of the just-concluded quarter's strength has only now become evident, courtesy of the now-disclosed segment-level performance and management's commentary during the earnings call.
Samsung is planning to deliver some of the first samples of its HBM4e product shortly. It is also optimistic about an early lead in PCIe Gen6 eSSD products.
As for the mobile division, we did report a few weeks back that the Galaxy division was contending with an all-out emergency due to rising component costs. Even so, the newly launched Galaxy S26 series has shown a strong sales performance and, in conjunction with a slew of cost-cutting measures, the division has managed to post a single-digit operating profit against fears of an all-out loss.
Of course, in what is the most notable part of Samsung's latest earnings call, the company declares that conventional DRAM products are delivering higher profits than HBM-based ones right now. This is because conventional DRAM prices are being negotiated quarterly right now, while HBM prices are locked on an annual basis.
According to SemiAnalysis, LPDDR5 contract prices, which are currently hovering at around $10/GB after undergoing a 3x increase since Q1 2025, are expected to undergo a double-digit percentage increase in 2027 as well.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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