Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said today that things are looking up despite its operating profit falling 56% in the third quarter from a year ago.

The company reported an operating profit of 7.78 trillion won ($6.7 billion) for the three-month period ending in September, just ahead of the 7.7 trillion won profit forecast it provided earlier this month.

Samsung’s profitability has been hit hard by falling memory chip prices amid an increase in global supply. The supply glut is significant because the memory chip business is Samsung’s biggest and most profitable.

“Earnings from the Memory Business slumped significantly year-on-year as memory chip prices continued its downward trend,” the company admitted.

Samsung’s semiconductor business unit, which includes memory chip sales, reported a quarterly operating profit 3.05 trillion won, down 77% from a year ago.

Still, company officials said they were optimistic that demand for memory chips should increase going forward thanks to “inventory building by customers in response to global macroeconomic uncertainties.” It’s a view that’s shared by industry analysts who say the only way now is up.

“Memory and storage pricing declines have likely reached the bottom and I expect this to positively impact Samsung,” said Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy.

Memory chip issues were at least somewhat offset by an improvement in Samsung’s smartphone business.

The smartphone market has become increasingly competitive in recent times due to a global slowdown in sales. People are upgrading their devices less often due to a lack of any major new innovations in smartphone design and features. But Samsung went against the overall trend with its IT & Mobile business, which includes its smartphone sales, reporting a 2.92 trillion won profit, up 32% from a year ago.

Samsung said sales were driven by “robust shipments of the flagship Galaxy Note 10, a better product mix and higher profitability in the mass-market segment.”

The company retains its position as the world’s largest smartphone company overall with a 23% market share, according to data from IHS Markit. China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp. Ltd. are ranked second and third in terms of sales, with Apple Inc. in fourth place.

Samsung’s stock rose almost 2% in the Korean markets.

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