Samsung Electronics estimates its 2024 fourth-quarter operating profit will fall well short of market expectations. The South Korean firm blames weak demand for PCs and other mobile products, among other factors.

The semiconductor giant's estimated profit for the October-to-December period is up more than 100 percent year-on-year, but still some way below what market players were anticipating.

The preliminary figure is 6.5 trillion won, or 4.5 billion dollars. The company will announce the final figure later this month.

Analysts attribute the disappointing result to Samsung's lackluster performance in the market for high-end memory chips.

The firm says preliminary revenue for the quarter rose to 51.5 billion dollars, up by 4.8 billion dollars.

Samsung says other factors that weighed on its performance were higher research and development costs and tougher competition with other firms.