Seoul: Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s biggest maker of TVs and mobile phones, reported a record profit surpassing analysts’ estimates as the popularity of its Galaxy devices helped widen the sales lead over Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Operating profit jumped 91 per cent to 8.10 trillion won (Dh26.8 billion) in the three months ended in September, Asia’s biggest consumer electronics company said in a statement on Friday. The average of 32 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg was 7.58 trillion won.

Earnings at the mobile phone business surged 93 per cent in the quarter with the May debut of the Galaxy S III and the Note, according to a Bloomberg News survey of six analysts, helping mask a slump in profit from selling computer memory chips. TV sales also helped Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung, which lost a California patent trial in August to rival and its biggest customer Apple.

“Sales have been very, very good around the world despite the best efforts of Apple to restrain them,” Mark Newman, a Hong Kong-based senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s First Up. “There’s a lot of growth left in the company, and I would think that it can go a lot higher.”

Samsung shares rose 0.2 per cent to 1,370,000 won at the close of trading in Seoul. The stock has gained 29 per cent this year, adding to three consecutive years of advances.

Revenue outside South Korea

The won strengthened to an 11-month high on Friday, a move that typically damps the overseas earnings of companies when repatriated into local currency. Samsung got 84.15 per cent of its revenue outside South Korea last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Samsung’s third-quarter sales totalled 52 trillion won, the company said in the statement. That compared with an estimate for 51.6 trillion won.

Operating profit may be 200 billion won higher or lower than Friday’s preliminary estimate when audited results are announced later this month, Samsung said. The company didn’t provide net income figures or a breakdown of divisional earnings.

Third-quarter operating profit at the telecommunications unit, Samsung’s biggest business, almost doubled to 4.87 trillion won after sales increased 80 per cent, according to the Bloomberg News survey.

Samsung probably shipped 57.1 million smartphones in the third quarter, according to Seoul-based Daishin Securities Co.’s estimate. That would surpass the 50.5 million units Samsung shipped in the previous quarter, a record amount for a single vendor, according to estimates from industry researcher Strategy Analytics.

Successful launch

Sales of the Galaxy S III surpassed 20 million units in the 100 days after its May debut, Samsung said on September 6. The company also is marketing the Galaxy Note II phone, equipped with a pen and a larger screen than the S III, after the first version sold more than 10 million units.

“Thanks to the successful launch of the Galaxy Note II, Samsung’s smartphone earnings will stay on the steady trend in the fourth quarter,” Shin Hyun Joon, a Seoul-based analyst at Dongbu Securities Co., said in a September 28 report.

Samsung shipped about 32.3 per cent of all smartphones in the quarter ended in June, with Apple second at 16.7 per cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In the first quarter, Samsung had 28.9 per cent and Apple 23 per cent.

Apple, lagging behind only Samsung in the $219 billion (Dh804.38 billion) global smartphone market, last month started selling the iPhone 5 with a bigger screen, lightweight body design and a faster processor than previous models.

Cupertino, California-based Apple reported debut weekend sales of more than 5 million units, falling short of some analysts’ estimates after supply constraints delayed shipments.

Samsung and Apple are also battling in court regarding patents protecting their devices, with each accusing the other of copying their intellectual property.