Key Points
- Samsung and LG reported lower profits in 2025 despite strong device and appliance sales, citing competitive and economic pressures.
- LG posted ₩2.48 trillion ($1.8 billion) in profit on ₩89.2 trillion ($60.35 billion) in revenue, down year over year.
- Samsung forecast about ₩20 trillion ($14 billion) in profit on up to ₩94 trillion ($65 billion) in sales.
Samsung and LG have released preliminary year-end financial results that show the South Korean electronics rivals saw lower profit on robust sales of their devices and appliances last year.
Last year, LG earned ₩2.48 trillion (around U.S. $1.8 billion) in profit on ₩89.2 trillion (around $60.35 billion) in revenue, marking the second consecutive year that the company has not set a new revenue record.
LG said its operational profit declined due to a slower-than-expected recovery in its display business and intensifying competition from other electronics makers. LG manufactures displays and screens for a number of other companies, including Apple for its tablets and computers and Sony for its smart TV sets. It also ships its own line of smart TVs and retail screens, and its OLED screens are in high demand among third-party electronics manufacturers.
LG said retirement packages from some of its tenured employees also cut into operating profit last year, logged as non-recurring restructuring costs. The company affirmed those one-off charges will help improve operating profits in the coming years.
It wasn’t all bad news for LG: The company saw stronger business from its vehicle solutions, HVAC (heating, venting and air conditioning) and direct-to-consumer and business-to-business electronics solutions, and it continues to license its operating system webOS to third parties.
LG said it hopes to “strengthen its qualitative growth engines and advance toward a more profitability-driven growth structure,” despite ongoing global economic pressures brought on by U.S. tariffs and other geopolitical issues.
Meanwhile, Samsung said it expected its full-year profit to be around ₩20 trillion (around $14 billion) on sales of ₩92 trillion and ₩94 trillion (between $63.5 billion and $65 billion). Unlike LG, Samsung didn’t offer much insight into the health of its business last year.
Samsung competes with LG in the smartphone screen business, with the company supplying screens to Apple for its popular iPhone devices and to Sony for its smartphones. Samsung also makes semiconductors and other computer hardware that are used in personal and enterprise computers, including servers powering some of the world’s more-robust artificial intelligence software and platforms.
Samsung and LG are expected to reveal their fourth quarter (Q4) and full-year earnings for 2025 in late January.
