LG Electronics posted a surge in second-quarter profit on strong mobile phone and flat panel TV sales, helping the company recover from the economic downturn sooner than its rivals.

The South Korean company reported a second-quarter profit of $903 million -- up 62 percent from a $565 million from a year earlier.

New high-end smartphones such as the touch screen Arena steadied sales and helped the company grow its market share in mobile phones despite the current financial crisis.

It had posted a loss of $158 million in January-March this year.

"Profitability improved with a product mix centered on new model launches and solid growth from existing mid- to high-tier handsets," said an LG spokesman.

LG, which overtook Motorola and Sony Ericsson to become the world's third-largest seller of handsets last year, said it expects sales to expand by more than 10 percent in the third quarter.

The company plans to continue focusing on high-end smartphones such as its next-generation Chocolate handset -- to be unveiled in August.

Earlier this month, LG also launched an online apps store in Asia -- in an attempt to follow the success of rival Apple's App Store.

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