'Soaring' Samsung smartphone sales to boost profits by 79% in Q2

London, July 6 (ANI): Tech giant Samsung Electronics is expecting its profits to surge 79 percent in the second quarter as sales of its smartphones continue to grow.

The firm has a forecast an operating profit of 6.7 ton won (5.9 billion dollars; 3.8 billion pounds) for the period, which will mark its highest quarterly profit since 2008.

As Samsung overtook Nokia as the world's biggest maker of mobile phones earlier this year, analysts claim that its profits may rise even further in the coming months.

"Earnings will be stronger in the current quarter as sales of the high-end Galaxy S III will increase dramatically and drive the telecom division's earnings to above 5tn won," the BBC quoted Nho Geun-Chang an analyst with HMC Investment Securities, as saying

Samsung launched the Galaxy S III, the latest version of its Galaxy range of smartphones, in May this year, which has been well received in the market.

Last month, the head of Samsung's mobile phone division Shin Jong-kyun said that the firm expects to sell 10 million units of the model by July. (ANI)