Samsung, the world's top technology firm by revenue, reported record quarterly profit of $7.4 billion dollars today, with strong sales of its Galaxy range of phones masking sharply lower memory chip sales.

The South Korean firm said July-September operating profit almost doubled from a year ago to 8.12 trillion won, in line with its earlier estimate.

Samsung, reporting its results just hours after main rival Apple Inc, did not detail its third-quarter smartphone shipments, though these are estimated to have soared to 58 million. Apple said it shipped 26.9 million iPhones in July-September. It launched its latest iPhone 5 on September 21.

Profits from Samsung's mobile division more than doubled to 5.63 trillion won - more than two-thirds of the group's total - as sales of the Galaxy S III, introduced in late May, powered ahead of the iPhone 5 launch. Samsung is estimated to have shipped 18-20 million S IIIs in July-September.

Keep up the good work Samsung!