Samsung’s first quarter profit may prove to be better than expected thanks to strong sales of the company’s new Galaxy S7 smartphone, The Korea Economic Daily newspaper reported.

According to the report, Samsung is expected to pull in more than 6 trillion Korean won (nearly $5.3 billion) in operating profit for the quarter. The figure would mark a significant increase from the 5 trillion to 5.5 trillion won the market is expecting, and would be the fifth consecutive quarter Samsung has broken 6 trillion won in operating profit, the report said.

In a recent report cited by Reuters, industry analyst at Korea Investment & Securities Jay Yoo estimated the electronics manufacturer shipped 9.5 million S7 devices in the first quarter, a figure that was up substantially from preliminary forecasts of just 7 million.

According to HDC Asset Management fund manager Park Jung-hoon, the S7’s strong sales figures can be partly attributed to Samsung’s decision to release the device a month earlier than it had done with the Galaxy S6 the year earlier. That gave the device some time to build momentum before the release of Apple’s new products, Jung-hoon said.

A hefty first quarter would be a significant boon for Samsung, which has previously warned investors to expect a “tough” 2016.

Last year, the company recorded its first-ever annual decline in smartphone shipments, dropping 1.8 percent year-over-year to just 320 million.

In January, Samsung posted a bigger-than-expected decline in earnings, reporting a 40 percent drop in net profits as its smartphone and semiconductor businesses stalled on weak global demand. During the quarter, Gartner said Samsung’s market share also declined 2.2 percentage points.