Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics said Friday that it had probably posted a record operating profit in the second quarter on strong sales of its flagship Galaxy series smartphones.
Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips and smartphones, estimated its operating profit at 6.7 trillion won ($5.9 billion) for the April-June period, up 78.7 percent from a year earlier and 14.5 percent from three months earlier.
The earnings guidance was in line with a median forecast of 6.7 trillion won by 18 securities companies polled by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency.
Samsung's second-quarter revenue rose 19.2 percent on-year to reach 47 trillion won, the company said. A net profit estimate was not provided.
Samsung is scheduled to unveil its quarterly earnings at the end of this month, the first report to be given after chief executive officer Kwon Oh-hyun was appointed to head the company.
The company did not give reasons for its estimate, but market watchers said brisk sales at its mobile business accounted for more than 4 trillion won of the total operating profit.
"The impact of the Galaxy S3 smartphone was maximized thanks to its sole competitor Apple Inc.'s delay in releasing a new product," said Kim Young-chan, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp. "More than 6 million units of the latest Galaxy phone have been sold since its rollout in late May, with sales likely to top 25 million units in the second half."
Kim predicted the company to sell a total of 204 million smartphones in 2012.
Samsung introduced the Galaxy S3 on May 29 in Europe as part of its efforts to jump-start demand in the $219 billion global smartphone market ahead of its U.S. rival Apple's iPhone 5 release.
Samsung said shipments of the flagship phone will likely reach a 10 million milestone this month.
Samsung probably sold 49 million smartphones in the second quarter, lower than an earlier projection of 55 million, as supply issues hampered shipments, according to KB Securities.
Analysts said most divisions at the tech behemoth saw their operating profit rise in the second quarter from three months earlier despite concerns over the eurozone debt crisis and other negative factors.
Hanwha Securities analyst Ahn Seong-ho said the company's liquid-crystal display (LCD) business likely swung to the black after six straight quarters of losses, adding its active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) business also continued to fare well.
Shares of Samsung Electronics were trading at 1,174,000, down 0.93 percent from the previous close, on the Seoul bourse as of 9:48 a.m. (Yonhap)