LG Electronics claims to have turned around its mobile business after shipping a record number of smartphones in the three months to the end of June.

The South Korean vendor shipped 14.5 million smartphones in the second quarter, an increase of 20% on the same quarter last year, pushing sales at its mobile division up 16% to 3.62 trillion won (€2.6 billion). The unit turned in an operating profit of KRW85.9 billion (€62 million), putting an end to three consecutive quarters of losses, LG said.

In a statement on its Website, LG said its "strong quarterly results reflect [a] turnaround of [its] mobile business."

Strong sales of LTE devices helped to drive growth. The vendor said more than a third of the smartphones it shipped during the quarter were LTE devices and highlighted in particular the initial popularity of its recently-launched G3 device in its home market.

Along with a strong performance its TV unit, LG’s mobile business helped to lift the firm’s overall revenues to KRW15.37 trillion (€11.1 billion), up 7% compared with Q1; the company did not provide a year-ago figure.

Its net profit was up 165% year-on-year to KRW412 billion (€299 million), while operating profit rose by 26.5% to KRW606 billion.