Samung warned that its future results might be soft due to slowing economic growth in China and weaker emerging market currencies.

"Broadly weaker IT demand will make it difficult to maintain 2016 profits at the level of the previous year's," Samsung said in a statement accompanying its fourth-quarter results, adding that "challenging business conditions" would remain for the current quarter and last throughout the first half of this year.

Samsung said that the strength of the Korean won compared to other major currencies had helped its third-quarter earnings, but changed to a negative impact of about $331 million in the fourth quarter.

Samsung said its October-December operating profit was $5.05 billion, matching its earlier guidance. Revenue rose 1.1 percent slightly better than it predicted.

As in previous quarters, sales of Samsung mobile phones were pressured by increasing competition from other Android smartphone makers who are targeting the same growth markets, including China and India. The company’s mobile division saw a 7.3 percent decline from the previous quarter.

Some investors and analysts believe Samsung will see its profit fall for the second time in three years in 2016, as slack demand for gadgets undercuts prices of memory chips and displays that helped to offset declining mobile profits last year.

The semiconductor division was a top earner for the sixth straight quarter in the October-December period, lifting its operating profit to 2.80 trillion won from 2.70 trillion won a year earlier.