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Seoul, South Korea • Samsung Electronics reported Thursday a better-than-expected operating profit for the first quarter likely driven by strong sales of its flagship Galaxy S7 smartphones.
The South Korean tech juggernaut put its January-March operating profit at 6.6 trillion won ($5.7 billion) in its earnings preview. That represents a 10 percent gain from 6 trillion won a year earlier.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet, a financial data provider, forecast a figure of 5.5 trillion won.
Sales rose 4 percent to 49 trillion won in line with expectations. Samsung did not disclose net profit or breakdown figures among its business divisions.
Analysts said sales of its flagship Galaxy S7 smartphones were much better than expected amid the absence of new devices from major competitors. They revised their first-quarter sales forecasts for the Galaxy S7 smartphones sharply higher to about 10 million units from 5 million to 7 million units.
Samsung launched globally the latest iteration of its flagship smartphone on March 11, about a month earlier than it launched its new flagship phone last year. Samsung's pricing strategy also helped boost phone sales. Even though the Galaxy S7 features an upgraded camera, an expandable storage space and was water resistant, the price was cheaper than its earlier version. The Galaxy S7 Edge, which features curved displays that wrap around the corner, was also cheaper than its previous version.
The company was able to cut costs in phone components and reduce the number of cheap phone models, analysts said.
Samsung will disclose its full earnings figures later this month.
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This story was revised to correct that operating profit represents a 10 percent gain from a year earlier, not 7.5 percent gain.