SEOUL - South Korean giant Samsung Electronics estimated Wednesday that it achieved a record operating profit of five trillion won (S$5.7 billion) in April-June.

Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips and flat screen TVs, announced its earnings guidance before the official release of second-quarter figures later this month.

The preliminary estimate of operating profit is almost double the 2.67 trillion won a year earlier. Samsung did not estimate net profit.

It tipped second-quarter sales at 37 trillion won, a 14 percent rise on the second quarter of 2009. Both figures are consolidated, meaning they also cover overseas affiliates.

Analysts quoted by Dow Jones Newswires saw the strong figures as mainly driven by higher prices for memory chips due to rising demand for personal computers and smartphones.

Stronger demand for flat-screen panels during the World Cup also boosted profits, they said, despite the poor quarterly performance of Samsung's handset business due to lack of competitive models and a weaker euro.

"With the high season for consumer electronics approaching, combined with Samsung's new smartphone launches, its earnings will stretch even further into the third quarter," Jay Koo, an analyst at Kyobo Securities, told Dow Jones.

The analysts expect Samsung's profit to shrink in the fourth quarter after peaking in July-September, with prices for chip and liquid crystal displays likely to fall due to rising supply and slower demand.