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LG's second-quarter boosted by record phone shipments

South Korean electronics giant says it shipped 14.5 million smartphones in the quarter, a 20 percent year-over-year increase.

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Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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LG Electronics said Thursday that its second-quarter operating profit rose 26.5 percent on strong performance by the company's TV and mobile communications divisions.

The South Korean electronics maker reported an operating profit of 606 billion won ($588.5 million) for the three-month period ended June 30, beating analyst estimates for 534.8 billion won. The company recorded revenue for the quarter of 15.4 trillion won.

LG Electronics credited its results on a record 14.5 million smartphones shipped during the quarter, up 20 percent year-over-year. The company's mobile unit posted revenue of 3.62 trillion won, a 16 percent increase year-over-year and its best return since the first quarter of 2010.

The division recorded an operating profit of $83.4 million, ending three straight quarters of losses. The company said much of that was due to initial popularity of the LG G3 in the Korean market and that sales of LTE-capable handsets have accounted for one-third of LG smartphones sold this year.

The world's second-largest television maker behind Samsung, LG credited demand in key markets with helping fuel demand for new sets. Its home entertainment division posted an operating profit of 154.5 billion won, an increase of 64.9 percent year-over-year.

LG's home-appliance division recorded an operating profit of 97.8 billion won on revenue of 3.03 trillion won, a 5 percent decline compared with the same quarter last year.