Samsung Electronics has announced its full year financial performance recording its highest quarter and one of its best years after posing difficult quarters in 2016 especially with the Note 7 fiasco. The Korean conglomerate, posted $50 billion in consolidated revenue for 2017 nearly doubling from previous year and fourth quarter revenue of $14 billion way above the $8.6 billion it posted the year before.

Unlike a couple years back where Samsung could bet big on its smartphone business, the star performer in the group is losing its shine of late. Instead the fourth quarter earnings were driven by the components business, with the largest contribution coming from the Memory business that manufactures DRAM and NAND. The other contributor for high revenue came from the display business, namely OLED which was used in the new Apple iPhone X.

Samsung listed a couple of reasons for the weak earnings from its IT & Mobile Communications Division including hike in marketing costs, lineup optimisation of low-end models but the most impact comes from strong competition from the likes of Huawei and lower end Chinese brands which continue to erode Samsung’s dominance in the Android market. Anticipation is once again placed on its premium Galaxy range with the S9 due to be launched in February at Mobile World Congress. All eyes will be on the event, paying close attention on the flagships key features.