SEOUL, Jan 29 (Reuters) - SK Hynix, the world's No.2 memory chip maker, posted a 298% jump in fourth-quarter profit as a better-than-forecast increase in chip shipments offset declines in chip prices.

The South Korean company, which counts Apple Inc among its customers, reported an operating profit of 966 billion won ($868.51 million) in October-December, up from a low base of 242 billion won a year earlier.

That compares with a Refinitiv Smartestimate of a 926 billion won profit. The Smartestimate, which gives more weight to consistently accurate analysts, was drawn from 20 analysts. ($1 = 1,112.2500 won) (Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang Editing by Chris Reese)