South Korea's Samsung Electronics said on Friday it expected a record operating profit of 8.1 trillion won ($7.3 billion) in the third quarter, boosted by sales of its flagship Galaxy smartphones.
The estimate beat analyst expectations and came with a predicted 26 percent surge in sales to 52 trillion won in the three months to September, and despite uncertainties surrounding Samsung's growing legal battle with Apple Inc.
Samsung, the world's largest technology firm by revenue, was giving earnings guidance before official results later this month.
The predicted operating profit for July-September represents a 90.5 percent rise from a year earlier, and beats the previous record of 6.7 trillion won set in the previous quarter.
Samsung's operating profits have been on the rise since the first three months of 2011, as rising smartphone sales helped it leapfrog Apple as the world's biggest smartphone maker.
But its shares have been under pressure due to the legal spat with the iPhone maker.
The Korean electronics giant was dealt a blow in late August when a US federal jury ruled that Samsung infringed some of Apple's design and software patents and fined it more than $1 billion. Samsung has appealed the ruling.
-- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report --