Samsung looks like it will make a second quarter profit of  $5.9 billion despite an attempt from Apple to patent troll the outfit into non-existance.

Indeed Samsung's stonkingly good results come thanks to sales of its flagship Galaxy smartphones which were what Apple was targeting. The figure is a 79 per cent rise from a year earlier and follows a remarkable first quarter performance. The South Korean technology giant has overtaken Apple and Nokia as the world's biggest phone vendor with 44.5 million handsets sold.

In May, Samsung released its new Galaxy S III phone in Europe and has seen brisk sales, which are expected to top 10 million units in July, according to the company's telecoms chief JK Shin. This is all happening despite legal pressure in the US coming from Apple.

Last week, a US judge suspended sales of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone just days after issuing a similar ruling against its new Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer. San Jose District Judge Lucy Koh said Apple "has shown a likelihood of establishing both infringement and validity."

Samsung is appealing.