This is now Samsung Electronics' biggest money-maker, and the reason the South Korean powerhouse will likely post record quarterly earnings.
The top handset maker is forecasting a 73 percent jump in operating profit for the October to December period, after record-smashing sales of smartphones, according to Reuters.
Smartphone shipments are forecast at a record 35 million in the fourth quarter, up 25 percent from the previous quarter.
Samsung expects operating profits of $4.5 billion dollars (5.2 trillion won). Q4 revenue is estimated at $41 billion dollars (47 trillion won).
The company will provide detailed earnings later this month.
Analysts say Samsung will solidify its lead over Apple in smartphones this year, selling as many as 170 million, from an estimated 95 million last year.
Samsung is also weathering a squeeze at its bread-and-butter memory chip unit, with demand for its mobile processing chips and high-end displays becoming a key new source of revenue.
Global technology firms, including rivals, already use or are turning to Samsung for components to power their tablets and smartphones
Samsung is the largest and sole profitable DRAM memory chipmaker and is likely to fare better than rivals, as it continues to invest in finer processing technology to cut costs.
Still, analysts say weak computer memory chip prices will continue to squeeze earnings at least until the first half of this year.
