South Korea-headquartered Samsung forecasts a near 50 per cent jump in its Q1 operating profit, with its memory chip business reportedly the main driver behind the robust growth.

In Q1 2017 earning guidance issued today, the world’s largest smartphone maker estimated operating profit at KRW9.9 trillion ($8.85 billion), a 48 per cent increase from Q1 2016. According to Yonhap news agency, the figure would be Samsung’s second-highest quarterly operating profit ever. The previous high was KRW10.1 trillion in Q3 2013.

Its consolidated revenue in the January to March quarter was expected to rise 0.4 per cent to KRW50 trillion. The company did not break down sales or profit by division. It will release final Q1 results later this month.

Samsung is expected to report a strong operating profit from its chip business, which local brokerages said may hit KRW6 trillion, Yonhap reported. Its chip unit posted an operating profit of KRW4.9 trillion in Q4 2016.

The strong performance comes just six months after Samsung pulled the plug on the crisis-ridden Galaxy Note 7, which was plagued with problems since its launch in August. The company’s vice chairman, Lee Jae-yong, was also caught up in a corruption scandal resulting in the impeachment of the country’s president Park Geun-hye. Lee was arrested in February.

Late in Q1, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 and S8+, featuring iris and facial recognition as well as an ‘infinity display’, as the vendor looks to recover from the Note 7 battery debacle.