Samsung Electronics profits boosted by smartphone sales

Samsung Electronics has posted a record quarterly profit, boosted mainly by growing sales of its smartphones.

It made a net profit of 7.15tn won ($6.4bn; £4.2bn) during the period, up from 5.05tn won a year ago. Profits also rose from the previous quarter, BBC reports.

The results are in sharp contrast with rival Apple, which earlier this week reported a drop in quarterly profits for the first time in a decade.

Samsung displaced Apple as the world's biggest smartphone maker last year.

Bryan Ma of research firm IDC said that the South Korean firm was doing "very very well right now".

"They have a lot of momentum behind what they are doing around phones, and clearly from a consumer perspective, they have a lot of excitement around their devices.

"They have a lot of their competitors wondering what they are going to do."