Samsung predicts Q1 profits to jump 53% fuelled by soaring smartphone sales

Samsung has said that it expects a first-quarter operating profit between 8.7 trillion won, up from 5.7 trillion won a year ago.

The South Korean firm forecast a 53% ump in profit for the first three months of the year, boosted mainly by growing smartphone sales.

Samsung has enjoyed massive success with its Galaxy range of smartphones and displaced Apple as the world's biggest smartphone maker last year.

According to the BBC, analysts expect its profits to rise further in the coming months.

They have forecast robust sales for Samsung's latest smartphone model, the Galaxy S4, which is set to hit the stores later this month.

Samsung, which is also the world's biggest maker of memory chips, will release it final quarterly results on 26 April.