Samsung Electronics Co. may report its fastest profit growth in four years after earnings from liquid-crystal displays and mobile phones more than doubled.

Second-quarter net income rose 66 percent to 2.36 trillion won ($2.3 billion), from 1.42 trillion won a year earlier, according to the median estimate of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue at Asia's largest maker of LCDs, chips and handsets probably climbed 26 percent to 18.5 trillion won. Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung reports tomorrow.

Lee Yoon Woo, promoted to chief executive officer in May, benefited from a shortage of computer screens and a falling won, helping boost the value of mobile phones and televisions sold overseas. He now faces the challenge of driving up earnings as slowing demand from North America and Europe undermines Samsung's exports, which account for 80 percent of sales, according to brokerages including UBS AG.

``Samsung will be able to maintain profitability in LCDs and mobile phone volumes will be OK,'' said Baik Jae Yer, who manages the equivalent of $4.8 billion at Korea Investment Trust Management Co. in Seoul. ``The overall competitiveness of Samsung's businesses is not bad, but the concern is that it won't be immune from the macroeconomic environment.''

Before today, shares of Samsung had gained 5.6 percent this year, compared with the 16 percent decline in the benchmark Kospi index. Lee Eun Hee, a Seoul-based spokeswoman at Samsung, declined to comment on the earnings estimates.

LCD Profit

Profit from LCDs, which accounted for a third of Samsung's operating income last year, more than tripled to 990 billion won, according to the analyst survey. Revenue at the division, the LCD industry's largest, probably rose 41 percent to 4.7 trillion won.

Shipments of Samsung's LCD panels in the quarter probably increased 11 percent from the previous three months driven by demand for screens in notebooks and televisions, according to J.J. Park, a Seoul-based analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. That's higher than his earlier prediction for 8.8 percent growth.

LG Display Co., the world's second-largest LCD maker, this month reported second-quarter profit tripled after prices of computer screens increased. Prices of 17-inch monitor panels rose 8 percent, while the 15.4-inch notebook screens increased 4.2 percent, according to Merrill Lynch & Co. estimates last month.

Demand for LCD televisions has been weaker-than-expected because of the slowing global economy, and TV panel prices may fall more than 18 percent in the second half after declining 8 percent in the second quarter, James Kim, an analyst at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in Seoul, said in a report this month.

Slowing Global Growth

The World Bank said last month that global economic growth will probably slow to 2.7 percent this year from 3.7 percent in 2007 because of surging prices and the subprime credit crisis.

Samsung probably doubled its profit from telecommunications to 762 billion won, led by shipments of touch-screen handsets and sales to emerging markets including India and China, according to the analyst survey. Revenue at the division probably gained 32 percent to 5.95 trillion won.

Nokia Oyj, Samsung's only bigger rival in phones, last week reported earnings and revenue that exceeded analysts' estimates and forecast industry shipments this year may surpass its previous projection of about 10 percent growth.

The Korean won has weakened 7.7 percent against the dollar, the second-worst performance among the 10 most-active currencies in Asia outside of Japan. Every 100 won decline boosts Samsung's operating profit by about 3.7 trillion won annually, according to the company.

Mobile Phones

Samsung's handset shipment growth may slow in the second half, according to Lehman Brothers, which last month reduced its estimate for Samsung's annual sales to 201 million units from 203 million previously.

Profit at Samsung's semiconductor operations, the second- largest after Intel Corp.'s, probably rose 13 percent to 369 billion won on higher prices of computer memory chips, according to the analyst survey. Revenue at the division increased 20 percent to 5.1 trillion won, the company may say.

Prices of benchmark computer-memory chips rose 9.7 percent in the second-quarter after remaining at record lows during the previous months, according to Dramexchange Technology Inc., Asia's biggest spot market for semiconductors. Samsung is the world's largest maker of memory chips.

The glut of computer memory chips, which speed up programs by temporarily storing frequently used data, forced Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. to post losses and reduce capital spending plans for this year.

Prices will decline in the second half because of increased supply from August and weaker demand from personal-computer makers, according to CLSA Ltd.

The following summarizes the Bloomberg survey of analyst estimates. Figures are in trillions of won.

                     Median    Mean    High     Low

TOTAL
Revenue                18.5    18.5    19.3    17.7
Operating Profit        2.1     2.1     2.5     1.8
Net Income              2.4     2.4     2.8     2.1

BY DIVISION
Chip Division
 Revenue                5.1
 Operating profit       0.4

LCD Division
 Revenue                4.7
 Operating profit       1.0

Telecom Division
 Revenue                5.9
 Operating profit       0.8

Source:Bloomberg