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| - The world's biggest smartphone maker, Samsung Electronics, reported a slump in fourth-quarter net profits on Thursday, blaming weakening demand in key products and falling chip prices. Net profits in the October-to-December period were 5.23 trillion won ($4.4 billion), it said in a statement, down 38 percent from a year ago. "Fourth-quarter profit dropped from a year earlier due to the continued fall in memory chip prices and weakness in display panels," Samsung said in a statement. The firm is the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung Group, by far the largest of the family-controlled conglomerates known as "chaebols" that dominate business in the world's 12th-largest economy. Samsung said it expects "weak sales from seasonality in memory chips, OLED and consumer electronics" in the first quarter of 2020 as the firm navigates "continued uncertainties in the global business environment". Operating profit dropped over 30 percent year-on-year to 7.2 trillion won, while sales in the fourth quarter stood at 59.9 trillion won. For full-year 2019, the firm reported net profits of 21.7 trillion won, down 51 percent from a year ago. sh/jah
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