Samsung Electronics is expected to top 200 trillion won ($183.97 billion) in yearly sales for the first time this year thanks to its strong growth in worldwide smartphone shipments.

According to financial information provider FnGuide on Thursday, the world’s top smartphone maker is also estimated to post about 28.6 trillion won in operating profit by the end of this year.

The provided data showed that Samsung would take up 12.2 percent of 138 listed firms’ yearly sales figures and 24 percent of the same group’s operating profit for 2012.

The nation’s No. 1 conglomerate’s flagship unit Samsung Electronics is also increasing its presence and concreting its position as a major driving force behind the Korean economy.

As an exemplary case, the estimated operating profit figure for the 138 listed firms is projected to reach over 119.3 trillion won in 2012, up 5.6 percent from last year, said data from FnGuide. However, that figure drops to about 90.7 trillion won when excluding Samsung Electronics ― 6.3 percent lower than the number recorded in 2011, it said.

Such estimations were given as Samsung Electronics continued to present solid and improved quarterly sales and profit figures, especially its smartphone business, over this year.

Gartner, a market research firm, said Thursday that Samsung extended its lead in the smartphone market and widened the gap with its rival Apple Inc.

Claiming that the smartphone market was dominated by Samsung and Apple, smartphones continued to trigger a sales increase of handsets globally with sales rising to 169.2 million units in the third quarter, said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner.

“Both vendors together controlled 46.5 percent of the smartphone market leaving a handful of vendors fighting over a distant third spot,” he said.

Gupta also said that Samsung’s mobile phone sales accelerated, totaling up to 98 million units by September this year, up 18.6 percent year-on-year.

He further stated that Samsung saw strong demand for the Galaxy smartphones across different price points and commanded almost one-third ― 32.5 percent ― of the global smartphone market in the third quarter.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)