Samsung saw its profits spike in Q4 2016, even with Note 7 recall

Samsung may have had to end sales and recall its Galaxy Note 7 phone during the fourth quarter of 2016, but that still didn’t stop the company from having a solid financial report for that time period. Today, the South Korean-based business reported an operating profit of 9.22 trillion won ($7.93 billion) for the quarter. Those numbers are slightly higher than the company’s prior guidance of 9.2 trillion won, and profits went up 50 percent compared to the same time period a year ago. In fact, Q4 2016 was Samsung’s most profitable quarter in three years.

Revenues for the quarter were 53.33 trillion won ($45.8 billion), which was flat compared to a year ago, and again slightly higher than the company’s previous guidance of 53 trillion won. As far as its mobile division, Samsung said earnings were up compared to a year ago, thanks to solid sales of its Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge phones, along with higher profits for its budget and mid-range devices.

Earlier this week, Samsung announced the results of its investigation into why many of its Note 7 smartphones caught on fire and exploded soon after it went on sale. The company put the blame on the phone’s battery, and added that it will now implement a new 8-step battery safety check to make sure that these issues do not come up again.  Even with the issues with the Galaxy Note 7, the company says it will launch a successor, the Galaxy Note 8, which is expected to go on sale in late 2017.

Samsung also says it will not introduce the Galaxy S8 in late February as part of the 2017 Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain. While the company did not offer a firm launch date for the phone, it is not expected to go on sale until sometime in April, after the first quarter of 2017 ends.