South Korean conglomerate Samsung Electronics has seen a 50-percent jump in its fourth quarter operating profit, reaching 9.22 trillion won (7.93 billion US dollars), largely thanks to its chip division acting as the main engine of growth.

The profit figure was its highest in three years, despite the huge scandal surrounding Samsung's flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. However, the technology giant said its fourth-quarter revenue remained flat at 53.3 trillion won from the same period a year earlier.

When the company released its initial report on its October-December operating profits earlier this month, analysts had speculated that Samsung's chip division and the Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) business would contribute to record high profits, as strong demand from smartphone makers including Apple showed no signs of slowing down.

Samsung's mobile division saw a 2.5-trillion won operating profit in the fourth quarter. However, on Monday the company indicated it may delay the launch of its new flagship Galaxy S8 series, which is expected to help the company see a rebound in its mobile phone business after the Note 7 debacle in the latter half of 2016. 

For the past few months, global headlines for Samsung have made bad reading, with story after story emerging about the Note 7 cellphone catching on fire or its exploding batteries. Reports of Note 7 phones exploding also emerged in China, after the phones went on sale on September 1 across the country. However, Samsung had said that the batteries in the phones sold in China were provided by a different supplier.

It was a huge blow to Samsung's reputation, and the company made the decision to recall some 2.5 million handsets in early September, not including China. By October 11, the company announced it would recall all Note 7 phones that it had sold in the Chinese mainland. Samsung was then confronted with claims that it didn’t treat Chinese customers fairly.

At the heel of the smartphone issue, the company now has to confront allegations of involvement in the South Korean presidential scandal. Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Group's leader, was called in by prosecutors last week for questioning over bribery allegations linked to the influence-peddling scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Soon-sil.