The third-quarter sales were estimated at 47 trillion won, also down 20.45 percent from the 59 trillion won a year earlier. Samsung Electronics, the world's top memory chipmaker, is scheduled to announce its final earnings later this month.

The figures were almost in line with the market estimate of 4.4 trillion won provided Thursday by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, based on a poll on 22 brokerage houses. LIG Investment & Securities Co. had suggested the lowest estimate of 3.9 trillion won. 

As widely expected by analysts, Samsung attributed the weak earnings to its ailing IT and mobile business. 

"Smartphone shipments increased marginally amid intense competition. However, the operating margin declined due to increased marketing expenditures and a lowered average selling price (ASP) driven by reduced proportional shipments of high-end models coupled with price decreases for older smartphone models,"

Samsung added in its regulatory filing in a rare move. 

Samsung had only provided figures for its quarterly guidances before.

"For the System LSI and OLED panel businesses, shipments decreased and profitability weakened due to lower demand for mobile products," it added.

"Under typically weak seasonality, earnings for the CE business declined substantially quarter-on-quarter due to reduced ASP of TVs and an earlier-than-expected end to the peak summer sales season of home appliance products, such as air conditioners," Samsung also said.

Samsung also admitted that uncertainties will continue for the fourth quarter, although it anticipates an increase in shipments of smartphones and TV products, helped by the strong seasonal demand, including Black Friday events.

"To secure sustainable mid- to long-term growth despite intensified competition, the company is preparing new smartphone lineups featuring new materials and innovative designs, as well as a series of new mid- to low-end smartphones with strong competitive positioning on both hardware specifications and price," Samsung said.

"For component businesses, including OLED, the company will continue to enhance competitiveness by continuously strengthening technological innovation and expanding its customer base." (Yonhap)