SAMSUNG Electronics saw its share price fall after it issued a warning over profits for the final quarter of last year.

The world’s biggest maker of mobile phones and TVs expects to make an operating profit of £4.8bn for the quarter, down 18 per cent from the previous three months.

Compared with the same period in the previous year, it is a six per cent drop.

Samsung did not say what caused the dip, but analysts said falling profit margins for smartphones had hurt it.

The firm has enjoyed strong growth in recent years.

The success of its Galaxy range saw the South Korean firm overhaul Nokia as the world’s biggest phone maker in 2012.

However, competition in the sector has increased with other phone makers launching new products.

Apple launched two new models of its iPhone – the topend 5S and a cheaper 5C – in September. In the same month, Nokia unveiled two new phone models.

Taiwanese firm HTC launched its latest handset, the Android-powered One Max, in October.

Samsung is likely to face further competition in the coming months in China, which is the world’s biggest mobile phone market.

This is after rival Apple agreed a deal to sell phones to subscribers of China Mobile, the country’s biggest carrier with more than 760 million subscribers.

The South Korean firm is currently the biggest mobile phone vendor in China. It had an 18.3 per cent share of the Chinese market in the Julyto- September quarter.

Samsung is bracing itself for its toughest year at its mobile devices division since it started making smartphones in 2007, with analyst estimates ranging from singledigit profit growth to mild contraction after showing robust growth in the past five years.

In addition, Apple is expected to sell smartphones with larger screens in the autumn, cancelling out a selling point that Samsung has enjoyed since introducing its Galaxy Note in late 2011.