LG Electronics says Q1 operating profit likely up 82 per cent

Analysts also said Samsung was likely to continue benefiting from the strong global demand for memory chips, especially NAND flash memory chips used for long-term data storage, throughout this year.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics estimated on Friday that its first-quarter operating profit rose 48 percent from a year earlier.

SK Hynix Inc.is Samsung's main domestic rival for memory chips while LG also produces displays.

"We have secured enough evidence proving that defendant Lee Jae-yong made improper requests to the president", special prosecutor Park Young-soo said, adding that Lee wanted Park to help maximize his control of Samsung and its various divisions at the lowest possible cost, according to Reuters' Lee.

That would be its biggest Q1 profit ever, coming close to its overall profit record set in Q3 2013 and representing a almost 50 per cent increase on the same period previous year when Samsung made 6.68 trillion won.

"In the course of providing bribes, Lee Jae-yong embezzled company money, illegally diverted domestic assets overseas, hid illegally-earned incomes and committed perjury at parliament", special prosecutor Park Young-soo said.

Samsung plans to begin sales of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus later this month, which are expected to play a crucial role in revitalizing the company's sales of premium smartphones.

The forecast $8.8bn profits don't include what the company is hoping to make from its new phone, the new and improved Galaxy 8, which hits the shelves later this month. "It will give a big boost to Samsung's earnings from the second quarter", analyst from IBK Securities, Lee Seung-woo told the Financial Times.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 smartphone was plagued with problems which caused the device to overheat and in some cases catch fire.

The heir apparent of Samsung Group, the country's biggest family-controlled conglomerate, is accused of offering tens of millions of USA dollars in bribes to Choi, who was branded by prosecutors as a criminal accomplice to the impeached president.

Lee arrived handcuffed at the Seoul Central District Court alongside four other high-ranking Samsung executives.

Choi, a former Samsung Group vice chairman considered a mentor to Jay Y. Lee, the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 005930.KS , left the conglomerate on March 1 after it dismantled its corporate strategy office - a nerve center long considered an instrument for the founding Lee family's management of the companies.

The court is expected to deliver a verdict by the end of May.