SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday it expected to post a record operating profit of 8.8 trillion won (S$10 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The predicted operating profit for October to December represents an 89 per cent rise from a year earlier, and would beat the record of 8.1 trillion won set in the previous quarter.

Samsung, the world's largest technology firm by revenue, was giving earnings guidance before announcing official results later this month.

Fourth-quarter sales were estimated at 56 trillion won, up 18.4 per cent from a year earlier, according to the company, which did not provide figures for each of its business divisions.

Samsung, also the world's leading smartphone and memory chip maker, did not disclose its net profit estimate.