The figures for Samsung are in and the Korean technology giant reported impressive second quarter profits of $5.9 billion, a record for the company. That’s up 79 percent from a year ago and total revenue rose 21 percent to reach $41.5 billion.

Samsung’s strong sales of premium smartphones including the latest Galaxy S III boosted the record profits for the Q2 of 2012. It isn’t Apple’s $8.8B in profits but it is getting closer.

Despite the weak demand for panels used in PCs and laptops, handset earnings jumped by 75 percent from a year-earlier period, thanks to stellar sales of its new flagship Galaxy S III and the 5-inch smartphone Galaxy Note, Samsung said during a conference call Friday.

Memory chips and processors were down a bit from last year, but the real shining star was the phone business, which brought in $3.64 billion in profit.