SEOUL, July 7 (Xinhua) — Samsung Electronics posted an earning surprise in the second quarter, surpassing market expectations, a regulatory filing showed on Thursday.

Preliminary figure for operating profit was estimated at 8.1 trillion won (7 billion U.S. dollars) during the April-June period, far exceeding a market consensus of about 7.4 trillion won.

It was up 21.26 percent from the previous three-month period and up 17.39 percent from a year earlier. It marked the first time in nine quarters that Samsung's operating profit topped 8 trillion won.

After peaking at 10.16 trillion won in the third quarter of 2013, the operating profit declined to 4.06 trillion won in the third quarter of 2014, before bottoming out to 7.39 trillion won in the third quarter of 2015.

Revenue was estimated at 50 trillion won in the second quarter, missing market expectations of about 52 trillion won. It was up 0. 44 percent from the previous quarter and up 3.01 percent from a year ago.

Revised figures for revenue and operating profit will be announced later this month after auditing accounts. Net income was not announced at the preliminary release.