There’s soon to be a changing of the guards at Samsung Electronics. Chairman Lee Kun-hee has revealed that his son, executive vice president Lee Jae-yong, will be promoted to a more high-level executive position. The chairman made his intentions clear when questioned by a reporter upon returning form the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

Lee Kun-hee is ranked by Forbes Asia as South Korea’s richest person with a $7.9 billion fortune. Samsung's current president and CEO is Choi Gee-sung.

Of course, Jae-yong will certainly have his work cut out for him. Samsung recently reported that large-size panel shipments fell quarter-on-quarter to 160 million units from 167 million, including both TV and IT panels. Average sales prices for notebook PC, monitor and TV panels all witnessed declines. And Samsung warns that demand for TV and monitor panels is expected to remain weak in the fourth quarter. Still, the company is banking on an increased demand for notebook panels stimulated by growing tablet PC sales to counterbalance changes in consumer demands.  

In fact, sales of mobile phone handsets rose 19 percent from a year earlier to 71.4 million units.  Average sales price also increased 14 percent quarter-on-quarter. The rollout of Samsung’s flagship smartphones, Galaxy S and Wave, were the primary drivers of continued sales growth. Since its launch in June, Galaxy S has been rolled out in 90 countries and has been selected by 210 carriers worldwide. Samsung projects sales of 10 million units by the end of 2010. The Samsung Wave, which operates on Samsung’s open smartphone platform, bada, has also shipped more than two million units in 80 countries. The quarter was also marked by the launch of Samsung’s Android-powered Galaxy Tab, which will be available on 140 carriers globally including all four major service providers in the United States. 

In addition to serving as executive vice president, Jae-yong is also Samsung’s chief operating officer. He was promoted to the position in December last year and has previously served as chief customer officer and vice president for strategic planning.

Edited by Tammy Wolf