Samsung is predicting a record boost to its profits for the start of 2012, thanks to burgeoning smartphone sales. The South Korean technology giant expects an operating profit of $5.15 billion for the first three months of the year - almost double the figure it reached a year ago, according to its press release. Total revenue was 45 trillion won ($38 billion). The company is thought to have outpaced Apple in the smartphone market during this period, thanks largely to the success of its Galaxy range of handsets. “Its latest smartphone Galaxy Note proved more popular than expected as Apple did not launch any new model in the last quarter,” Park Kang-ho at Daishin Securities told the Financial Times. “Samsung is likely to renew its profit record in the second and third quarters, as Apple is its only competitor in the high-end smartphone market.” However, Samsung has also been fighting a series of legal battles with Apple, with both sides claiming copyright infringements on products such as Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Apple vs. Samsung: The battlelines Shares in Samsung - Asia\'s most valuable technology firm and the world\'s biggest manufacturer of memory chips and liquid crystal displays - closed down 1.4%, after charging to a record 1.11 million won earlier this week in anticipation of an upbeat forecast.