Samsung posts $7.4 billion profit

South Korean technology powerhouse Samsung Electronics Co posted a fourth straight record quarterly profit - of $7.4 billion - with strong sales of its Galaxy range of phones masking sharply lower sales of memory chips.

The record run, though, is likely to end in December, with profit growth slowing even more next year as TV markets stagnate and growth in high-end smartphones eases from the recent breakneck speed. Profit is expected to grow 16 percent next year, down from a forecast 73 percent this year, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The biggest concern for Samsung is that its smartphone growth momentum will slow. It'll be difficult to maintain such a high profit margin from handsets as the market gets crowded and competition will intensify, said Nam Dae-jong, an analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities.

Reporting just hours after rival Apple Inc, Samsung said July-September operating profit almost doubled to 8.12 trillion won, in line with its earlier estimate. Net profit rose to 6.56 trillion won.

Samsung sold 56.3 million smartphones in the third quarter, according to research firm IDC, giving it a global market share of 31.3 percent - more than double that of Apple, which said it sold 26.9 million iPhones. Apple launched its latest iPhone 5 on Sept. 21.

Samsung said it will book patent-related provisions once a U.S. court rules on its litigation with Apple. A U.S. federal jury said in August that Samsung had copied key features of the iPhone, awarding Apple $1.05 billion in damages. Apple has since asked for another $707 million, and the California court is set to rule on that in early December.

The amount of provisioning will be fixed according to the U.S. court ruling, and the costs will be set aside this quarter only if there's a ruling within the current quarter, said Robert Yi, head of Samsung's investor relations.

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