Samsung tips record $US12.1 billion profit

Samsung Electronics says its second-quarter operating profit has soared 72 per cent over a year earlier to the highest in its history.

In its earnings preview on Friday, the South Korean tech giant put its April-June operating profit at 14 trillion won ($US12.1 billion), compared with 8.1 trillion won a year earlier. Sales rose 18 per cent to 60 trillion won.

The result beats expectations and puts Samsung on track to report the highest profit in its history for the full year. Analysts expected 13 trillion won according to financial data provider FactSet.

Analysts believe Samsung's semiconductor division, which makes memory chips for mobile devices and servers, generated nearly 60 per cent of the quarterly profit thanks to massive growth of connected devices and data that fuelled demand.