Samsung: Empowering Athletes with Mobile Innovations

• In the first quarter of 2025, Samsung generated a revenue of about $53.7 billion. 
• In the first quarter of 2025, Samsung Electronics’ mobile division (Device Experience (DX)), which includes Android phones and wearable products, reported sales of 51.7 trillion (approximately $37.67 billion).
• As of April 2025, Samsung held a 22.88% share of the global smartphone market.
• In the first quarter of 2025, Samsung led global smartphone shipments with 60.5 million units, capturing a 20% market share.
• The company achieved an operating profit of about $4.7 billion in Q1 2025, a slight increase from the previous year.
• Samsung’s total capital expenditures reached ₩53.6 trillion in financial year 2024, with ₩46.3 trillion allocated to the Device Solutions (DS) Division and ₩4.8 trillion to Samsung Display Corporation (SDC).
• In the first quarter of 2025, the company increased its R&D expenditure by 16% compared to the same period last year, amounting to ₩9 trillion or $6.56 billion.
• In 2024, Samsung invested approximately ₩35 trillion (around $24.09 billion) in research and development, marking a 23.5% increase from the previous year.
• As of 2024, the Samsung Galaxy A15 5G emerged as the best-selling 5G Android smartphone globally.
• In the premium segment, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra stood out as the best-selling high-end Android smartphone of 2024.
• The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 is the most popular smartwatch among Android users in 2024.
• Samsung’s revenue was whopping $197,958,785,633 in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.
• In 2022, Samsung became the world’s largest supplier of 5G smartphones, with a 31.1% market share. It shipped a total of 90.2 million 5G smartphones, celebrating growth of 136% compared to 2021. 
• When Samsung launched the Galaxy S3, it sold 500 smartphones per minute. 
• Q4 of 2022 was the least successful year for Samsung in the last decade. Year-on-year sales dipped by 17%. 
• Nevertheless, Samsung’s brand value increased by 17% year-over-year to $87.7 billion in 2022. It ranked in fifth place in Interbrand’s Best Global Brands. 
• Less than 3% of smartphone lovers give preference to the Galaxy F series.
• The most popular color for Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphones is Phantom Black. 
• Over 42% of Samsung Electronics’ employees are located in the Korean region. 
• At the beginning of 2023, Samsung held 27.14% of the market share, losing only to Apple by 0.58%. 

• Samsung was founded in 1938 as a trading company by Lee Byung-chul. Based in a city called Taegu, Samsung began as a grocery store, trading and exporting goods produced in the city. It sold dried Korean fish, vegetables, and noodles. In 1938, Samsung had only 40 employees.
• In the late 1960s, the company entered the electronics market. The company formed several electronic divisions such as Samsung Electronics Devices, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Corning, and Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications. 
• Samsung also ventured into the shipbuilding industry in the mid-1970s.  
• In the same period, the company produced its first black-and-white TVs. 
• During the ‘70s, Samsung produced transistor black and white TVs, color TVs, refrigerators, electric desk calculators, and air conditioners.
• In 1978, Samsung reached the milestone of producing 5 million TVs. 
• The company established Samsung Electronics America and the Suwon R&D Center before the end of the decade.
• In 1982, Samsung Printing Solutions was founded to deliver digital solutions to the printing industry.
• The company started producing personal computers in 1983, and a year later, Samsung’s sales reached one trillion won.
• Before the end of the decade, Samsung won the title of the world leader in the manufacturing of semiconductors.
• In the ‘90s, Samsung also became a world leader in chip production, formed Samsung Motors, and started making digital TVs.
• At the beginning of the new century, Samsung created the SPH-1300, an early touch-screen prototype.
• It also developed its first speech-recognition phone in 2005.
• In 2011, Samsung launched the Galaxy S II, followed in 2012 by the Galaxy S III, one of the world’s most popular smartphones.
• In 2012, Samsung acquired mSpot and became the world’s largest smartphone maker.
• In 2014, Samsung released the Gear VR, a virtual reality device developed for use with the Galaxy Note 4. 
• In 2017, the company began to test a self-driving car. 
• The Samsung Group operates hotels and hospitals and runs South Korea’s largest life insurance firm.  It controls over 80 subsidiaries. 
• The Samsung Group accounts for 20% of South Korea’s GDP. It is the largest single contribution by a company in the world. 
• Samsung is a family-owned company.  Today, Samsung is led by Lee Jae-yong, a direct descendant of the company’s founder. With an estimated net worth of $9.2 billion, he is the second richest person in South Korea.      
• Samsung is headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. 

Continue reading to learn more about Samsung’s statistics. 

A company’s revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services without subtracting any expenses. In the first quarter of 2025, Samsung earned $53.7 billion in consolidated revenue, while making about $4.7 billion in operating profit. The operating profit of the semiconductor division declined to approximately $774 million due to decreased average selling prices and weakened demand for high-bandwidth memory.

Samsung reported its 2025 first-quarter earnings on Wednesday, April 30, with a quarterly operating profit better than the reading a year ago. Its operating income increased 10% to $5.5 billion as compared to $5 billion in the same period last year. On the operating front, the company’s Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) climbed to $12.4 billion in the quarter under review as opposed to $12.3 billion in the year-ago period.

For 2025 as a whole, the Company plans to enhance technological and product advantages in AI, continue to meet future demand for high-value-added products and drive sales growth in premium segments.

Samsung Electronics posted a whopping 129.85% rise in operating profit at ₩6.5 trillion, approximately $4.47 billion, compared to Q4 2023, but a 29% decline from the previous quarter. Despite the year-over-year growth, the quarter-on-quarter decline in operating profit was attributed to soft market conditions, especially for IT products, and increased expenditures, including research and development.

Samsung’s Mobile Division is one of the five divisions within the company. It consists of the Mobile Communications Division, Telecommunication System Division, Computer Division, MP3 Business Team, Mobile Solution Centre, and Telecommunication R&D Center. The Mobile Communication segment is the key contributor to Samsung’s success. It includes different lines of smartphones, wearables, and a library of application software such as Samsung Pay. The most popular line is Samsung Galaxy. Samsung sells around 400 million mobile devices annually around the world.

In the first quarter of 2025, the revenue of Samsung’s mobile business advanced by 10.44%, compared to the year-ago period, to ₩37 trillion or almost $25.85 billion, while also surging over 43% on a quarter-over-quarter basis. Its operating profit witnessed a healthy 22.85% year-over-year growth to ₩4.3 trillion or approximately $25.85 billion.

The segment’s impressive performance was largely attributed to the successful launch and sales of the Galaxy S25 series, which featured advanced AI capabilities. The flagship model, Galaxy S25 Ultra, was particularly well-received, contributing significantly to the division’s revenue and profit growth.

Samsung has consistently performed better than Apple in every first quarter since 2019, even though Apple has always outperformed its rival in every fourth quarter. In Q1 2023, too, Samsung replaced Apple as the top smartphone provider, helped by its mid-tier A Series and the new S23 Series. In 2021, Samsung accounted for about 24% of the market. Apple held about 45%. In June 2017, Samsung held a revenue share of mobile devices of 24%, losing to Apple by 20.4%. In 2018, Apple outperformed Samsung by 30%. Concerned with its future performance, Samsung has decided to keep Google as the default search engine on its smartphones. Although the company toyed with the idea of replacing Google, it thought better of it, worried as it is about the potential market reaction and its relationship with Google. At the same time, Samsung keeps open the option to switch to Bing in the future. 

In the first quarter of 2025, the global smartphone market advanced by a bleak 0.2% year-over-year to record 296.9 million unit shipments. The growth was driven by strong performances from major vendors, including Samsung and Apple, and a general recovery in consumer demand. Samsung maintained its lead, shipping 60.5 million units, supported by the launch of its latest flagship models and competitively priced new A-series products.

Source: Counterpointresearch.com

A company’s earnings are its after-tax net income. This is its profits, a bottom line. In 2024, Samsung’s earnings reached about $25.17 billion. In the previous year, marking a significant recovery from the previous year’s net income of $11.29 billion. This resurgence was driven by a robust performance in the second half of the year, particularly due to a rebound in the semiconductor sector and strong sales of premium smartphones and AI-integrated devices. Notably, in the fourth quarter of 2024, Samsung achieved a net income of USD 5.41 billion, contributing substantially to the annual figures.

Source: companiesmarketcap.com

In 2024, Samsung’s shipments slightly decreased to 222.9 million units, a 1.6% decline from the previous year. The downturn was attributed to a slowdown in the mid-range smartphone market, particularly affecting Samsung’s A-series, which constitutes a significant portion of its sales.

Samsung’s strategic roadmap for 2025 and beyond emphasizes innovation in artificial intelligence (AI), expansion of its flagship Galaxy S series, and a re-calibrated approach to foldable devices. Samsung regained its position as the world’s leading smartphone vendor in Q1 2025, shipping 60.5 million units and capturing a 20% market share. This success is attributed to strong sales of the Galaxy S25 series and competitively priced A-series models.

In response to tepid sales of its Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Fold 6 models, Samsung plans to reduce foldable phone production in 2025 from the initially planned 8.2 million units to 5 million. Concurrently, the company aims to increase production of the Galaxy S25 series by 7%, anticipating 37.4 million units, along with an additional 3 million units of the S25 Slim variant. To follow Samsung’s yearly sales, see the table below:

As earnings per share detail a company’s progress during one year, it is a crucial benchmark for investors when judging risk. Earnings per share (EPS) tells investors how profitable a company is. It is calculated by dividing the net profit by the outstanding shares of common stock. Samsung’s latest twelve months EPS stands at $3.53, while its basic EPS, adjusted for fiscal years ending December 2020 to 2024 averaged $3.95. To understand how Samsung’s earnings per share changed over the years, see the table below:

Samsung Electronics experienced significant employee growth during this period, with the workforce expanding from approximately 157,700 in 2009 to a peak of 325,680 in 2015. Post-2015, the company saw a stabilization and slight reduction in its workforce, aligning with global economic factors and internal restructuring. The employee count has remained relatively stable, hovering around 267,000 to 270,000 employees.

Notably, in 2024, Samsung Electronics planned to reduce its global workforce by up to 30% in certain divisions, particularly in sales, marketing, and administrative roles, due to challenges in its semiconductor division and increased competition in the premium smartphone market. The table below reflects changes in the number of Samsung’s employees over the years:

Samsung’s stock price is ₩54,350 at the moment of writing, on the 23rd of May, 2025. As of May 2025, Samsung Electronics presents a mixed investment outlook. While the company boasts strong fundamentals and a diversified portfolio, it faces challenges in key sectors, particularly in semiconductors and advanced memory technologies.

According to Investing.com, out of 35 analysts, 31 recommend a “Buy,” and 4 suggest “Hold,” with no “Sell” ratings. The average target is ₩72,942, indicating a potential upside of approximately 34% from current levels. Analyst forecasts place the stock’s price between ₩48,000 and ₩88,000.

Part of its wealth and global influence stems from its involvement in various sports events like the Olympics and sponsorships of sports teams and individual athletes. Samsung’s Olympic Games history started thirty years ago when in 1988, it became a local sponsor of the Seoul Olympic Games. Ten years later, the company’s partnership with the Olympics was organized on a wider, international level.

At the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games, Samsung was called the Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Wireless Communications Equipment category. It continues leading in this category today, as the latest Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in 2022, equipped with the most innovative Samsung technology, amply demonstrated. As it had done since the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang 2018, Samsung expanded its product category in Beijing from smartphones to various IT products such as tablets, laptops, personal computers, and printers. To demonstrate its commitment to the Olympic movement and enhance the connection between athletes, their families, and sports lovers, Samsung invested in 2022 in Team Samsung Galaxy athletes, Virtual Media Center, and the #CheerTogether campaign.

Samsung also distributed to every Olympic and Paralympic sportsman its limited Olympic-edition Galaxy Z Flip3 5G, the first foldable smartphone with pre-loaded apps containing information for participants in the Games. Samsung’s engagement with the Olympics will continue in the future as it extended its $50-million sponsorship contract with the International Olympic Committee by eight years, planning to remain a top sponsor until the 2028 Los Angeles Games. 

Source: Samsungmobilepress.com

Although it has not been revealed how Samsung would equip the 2028 Los Angeles Games, it will probably invest in the technologization of the Olympic stadiums, as it did in 2020, when it turned SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles into a technological wonder. Indeed, bringing stadiums to a radically new technological level is another way for Samsung to make its presence felt in sports. Excited by the scale and difficulty of the project, Samsung created the Infinity Screen, the largest video board made in sports. The double-sided and center-hung LED display has an 8mm pixel pitch that enhances viewers’ experience from every seat in the stadium. In addition to the central video board, Samsung provided the facility in Los Angeles with 16mm LED ribbon boards on five levels, LED wayfinding displays, and indoor LED feature walls. The IPTV system is comprised of 2,600 Samsung large-format displays: menu boards for food and beverages and 4K show displays capturing the attention of people walking through Hollywood Park that surrounds the stadium. These displays and long, thin LED screens mounted on the face of balconies will keep fans engaged in a sports event even when they step outside the stadium. But because Samsung updates its technology at lightning speed, stadiums in Los Angeles during the 2028 Olympic Games might be furnished with even more mind-blowing technology, unimaginable at present. 

Source: Insights.samsung.com

The Olympics is not the only sports event that Samsung finances. The company has also partnered with PGA Championship games, La Liga, a Spanish football division, NASCAR, and MLB. Equally important is the Samsung Sports division, which comprises eSports, volleyball, and football teams. Among the teams included in the Samsung Sports division are the Daejeon Samsung Fire Bluefangs in volleyball, the Seoul Samsung Thunders in basketball, the Samsung Lions in baseball, and the Suwon Samsung Bluewings in football.

Samsung has also ventured into other sports, adding to its Sports division teams in taekwondo, such as the Samsung S-1 Taekwondo Club, wrestling (the Samsung Life Wrestling Club), table tennis (the Samsung Life Table Tennis Club), badminton (the Samsung Electro-Mechanics Badminton Club), and horse-riding (the Samsung Electronics Equestrian Club).

Aiming to strengthen its presence in eSports, Samsung has become an official sponsor of British eSports company Guild Exports, co-owned by David Beckham. For the Guild Academy, Samsung provides a selection of Neo QLED TVs and obtained marketing rights across the Club’s facilities, digital content, influencers, and the Guild’s professional players.  

Along with backing various clubs and teams, Samsung has individual sponsorship arrangements with some of the greatest athletes in the world, including David Beckham, Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Manny Pacquiao, David Ortiz, Usain Bolt, Deshaun Watson, Myth, Robert Whittaker, and Tony Kanaan.

LeBron James, the American basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA, is the biggest sports star advertising the company. James famously signed a lucrative deal worth over US$100 million with Samsung in 2012. Running until 2017, the deal included marketing and commercials, the most memorable of which is perhaps a Samsung Galaxy commercial from 2013, called “At Home.” Other athletes significantly increased people’s awareness of Samsung’s products. Deshaun Watson became one of Samsung’s most featured sportsmen in 2020, seen advertising its Galaxy phone product in commercials and on social media. Samsung also showed Watson with his mother in a campaign linked to his Deshaun Watson Foundation, dedicated to education, health, housing, and other charitable causes supporting people in underserved communities.

There is no doubt that, as the data and analytics side of professional sports becomes more and more mainstream, Samsung will continue offering more sponsorships to sports events, clubs, teams, and individual athletes. 

Samsung was founded in 1969 by Lee Byung-chul.

Samsung, which means “three stars” in Korean, was founded by Lee Byung-chul.

Samsung is a family-owned company. Today, Samsung is led by Lee Jae-yong, a direct descendant of the company’s founder. With an estimated net worth of $9.2 billion, he is among the wealthiest individuals in South Korea. 

Samsung’s products are made in South Korea, China, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Brazil. 

As of the 23rd of May 2025, Samsung’s market capitalization is ₩355.7 trillion or $263.32 billion.

Samsung is headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea.