Q4: Samsung Galaxy smartphones outscore Apple phones

Samsung Electronics, has reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings as sales of Galaxy smartphones withstood the debut of Apple's iPhone 5.

Samsung sold about 62 million smartphones in the quarter, compared with Apple's 45 million, according to a Daewoo estimate.

The South Korean company is in a global patent legal fight with California-based Apple, which is also its biggest customer.

According to a Samsung preliminary results statement, the companies Operating profit rose 89 per cent to a record 8.8 trillion won (€6.3 billion) in the three months ended December.

That compares with the 8.5 trillion-won average of 35 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The South Korea-based company did not give net income or divisional figures.

According to a Bloomberg News survey of five analysts, Samungs Sales jumped 18 per cent to 56 trillion won, helped by demand for Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III phones. Earnings at the mobile-phone unit probably doubled from a year earlier.

The report also mentions that the sales of iPhone 5s were hit by glitches with mapping software.

"Samsung was the major beneficiary of slower-than-expected sales of Apple's iPhone 5," James Song, an analyst at Daewoo Securities in Seoul, is quoted in telling the media.

According to Song the biggest challenge ahead is whether it can maintain its competitiveness in the smartphone market as high-end products are expected to be released by big players like Apple and Google."