South Korea's Samsung Electronics says it expects its operating profit to beat market expectations for the quarter through March, mainly due to brisk smartphone sales.



In earnings guidance for first quarter of 2025, the company estimates an operating profit of 6.6 trillion won, or about 4.5 billion dollars. That is almost unchanged in won terms from a year earlier.



Many market analysts had forecast a profit of around 5 trillion won.



The firm also says sales are likely to rise nearly 10 percent year-on-year to 79 trillion won, or roughly 54 billion dollars.



Samsung says its new smartphones are selling well. It points out that shipments of memory chips and other products rose sharply before the US administration introduced new tariffs.



South Korean media say the outlook for Samsung's performance is unclear due to the impact of the US levies. They point to President Donald Trump's tariff of 46 percent on imports from Vietnam, where Samsung produces a large portion of its smartphones.