South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Friday net profit soared 75.6 percent to a record 7.04 trillion won ($6.6 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2012, powered by strong smartphone sales.
The world's largest technology firm by revenue and top smartphone maker also saw a record operating profit in October-December of 8.84 trillion won, up 89.7 percent from a year earlier.

The figures were largely in line with Samsung's guidance released earlier this month.

For all of 2012, Samsung logged a net profit of 23.8 trillion won, with revenue and operating income reaching 201.1 trillion won and 29.05 trillion won respectively.

The company said growth in the fourth quarter was mainly driven by "solid sales" of its flagship Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 smartphones.

IT and Mobile Communications accounted for the lion's share of operating profit in the fourth quarter, racking up 5.44 trillion won on revenue of 31.32 trillion won.

However, Samsung cautioned that the "furious growth spurt" in the global smartphone market in 2012 would be "pacified" this year by intensifying price competition compounded by a slew of new products.

"In the first quarter, demand for smartphones in developed countries is expected to decelerate, while their emerging counterparts will see their markets escalate with the introduction of more affordable smartphones and a bigger appetite for tablet PCs," it said in a statement.