Samsung Electronics on Wednesday expected a market forecast-beating earnings for the first quarter of 2021, estimating its operating profit at $8.3 billion for the first three months of the year, up 44.2 per cent from a year ago. The forecast came as its mobile business fared well, offsetting a relatively tepid performance from the semiconductor business. On a quarterly basis, Samsung's first-quarter operating income was up 2.8 per cent from the last quarter of 2020, and the sales estimate was up 5.6 percent from the previous quarter. Samsung, the world's leading memory chip and smartphone vendor, did not break down performances of its respective business divisions, saying it will announce the detailed earnings later this month.