Samsung Electronics, South Korea's tech behemoth, recorded the lowest operating profit in four years last year on the global chip industry's downturn, a regulatory filing showed Wednesday.

The preliminary figure for operating profit was 27.7 trillion won (23.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019, down 52.9 percent from the previous year. It was the lowest in four years since 2015.

Revenue shrank 5.9 percent over the year to 229.5 trillion won (196 billion U.S. dollars) last year, marking the lowest since 2016.

It was attributed to the downturn of business cycle of the global semiconductor industry that led to lower product price.

Detailed earnings on each business unit will be announced later this month after an external audit and the board of directors' approval.

During the October-December quarter, the operating profit amounted to 7.1 trillion won (6.1 billion U.S. dollars).

The operating profit was down 34.3 percent from a year earlier, but it beat market expectations of about 6.5 trillion won (5.6 billion U.S. dollars).

Preliminary figure for revenue shed 0.5 percent over the year to 59 trillion won (50.4 billion U.S. dollars).

Market watchers forecast that Samsung's earnings would rebound this year, given the expected turnaround of the global chip industry as early as in the first quarter.

Samsung's operating profit turned upward in the second half of last year. The profit stayed below 7 trillion won (6 billion U.S. dollars) in the first and second quarters, but it rose above 7 trillion won in the third and fourth quarters.

Operating profit for Samsung's chip-making division was estimated between 2.9 trillion won (2.5 billion U.S. dollars) and 3.2 trillion won (2.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the fourth quarter of last year.

It was almost the same as 3.05 trillion won (2.6 billion U.S. dollars) tallied in the third quarter.

Operating profit for the display panel business was estimated between 400 billion won (341.6 million U.S. dollars) and 500 billion won (427 million U.S. dollars) in the fourth quarter.

Compared with an operating profit of 1.17 trillion won (1 billion U.S. dollars) in the third quarter, the fourth-quarter profit more than halved on a lower price of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and a growing cost for the production of flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels.

Operating profit for the smartphone division was estimated at about 2.5 trillion won (2.1 billion U.S. dollars) in the fourth quarter.

The profit was down from the previous quarter's 2.92 trillion won (2.5 billion U.S. dollars), but it was far higher than an operating profit of 1.51 trillion won (1.3 billion U.S. dollars) tallied a year earlier.

The number of Samsung's smartphone shipments was estimated at about 70 million in the fourth quarter, far lower than the previous quarter's 85 million.

Despite the lower shipment, demand increased for Samsung's premium products such as Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Fold, market watchers said.

Operating profit for the consumer electronics unit was estimated between 600 billion won (512.4 million U.S. dollars) and 700 billion won (597.8 million U.S. dollars) in the fourth quarter.

It was up from the previous quarter's 550 billion won (469.7 million U.S. dollars) on solid demand for premium TVs and drying machines.

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