Samsung Electronics has projected that its operating profit dropped nearly 78 percent in the third quarter for a better-than-expected performance compared to the last two quarters.

The tech giant estimated on Wednesday that its operating profit came to two-point-four trillion won, or around one-point-eight billion U.S. dollars, in the July-September period, down 77-point-nine percent from a year earlier.

The figure marks a significant increase from the first and second quarter, when operating profit came in the 600 billion-won range, and more than 30 percent higher than the estimate from Yonhap Infomax.

Sales in the third quarter came to 67 trillion won for a 12-point-seven percent drop from the same period last year, but was an eleven-point-seven-percent increase over the previous quarter.

Samsung didn't provide a breakdown of performances from its key divisions, but analysts predicted that operating profit from the mobile and display divisions offset losses from its semiconductor business, which also eased.