SEOUL, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Samsung Electronics, South Korean tech behemoth, posted better-than-expected earnings in the second quarter thanks to solid demand for its flagship Galaxy smartphones, a regulatory filing showed on Thursday.
Operating profit was 8.14 trillion won (7.22 billion U.S. dollars) in the April-June period, up 18 percent from a year earlier. It surpassed market expectations of 7.4 trillion won on average, marking the largest in nine quarters since the first quarter of 2014.
Revenue increased 5 percent over the year to 50.94 trillion won in the second quarter, and net income rose 1.7 percent to 5.85 trillion won.
Samsung's smartphone business generated 4.32 trillion won in operating profit, account for more than half of the company's total profit thanks to demand for Galaxy S7 smartphone series.
It marked the first time in two years that Samsung's smartphone profit topped 4 trillion won. The smartphone unit's operating profit tumbled to 1.75 trillion won in the third quarter of 2014 after peaking at 6.7 trillion won in the second quarter of 2013.
Samsung sold 16 million units of Galaxy S7 series in the April-June period alone, while demand for lower-priced models such as Galaxy A and J series contributed to the smartphone division's outperformance.
