Samsung profit in Q4 rises hefty 50 percent

Samsung Electronics Co underscored the resilience of its business when it reported its best operating profit in three years, weathering the death of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 with the help of its workmanlike chip and display divisions and cheaper smartphones.

The world's largest maker of mobile devices posted a 50 percent surge in quarterly operating profit after demand from Chinese smartphone brands pushed up memory chip prices and buoyed the unit that makes organic light-emitting diode screens. Samsung also touched up an older phone line-up with new colors and features, helping tide it over in the Note 7's absence.

Samsung is emerging from its biggest corporate crisis, when reports of incendiary Note 7s forced the South Korean company to kill its most profitable gadget.