LG Electronics had a strong third quarter thanks to higher sales of flat-screen televisions and a surge in its handset division.

The company reported a net profit of $685.2 million for the third quarter, a large increase from the $21.4 million profit it reported for the same period last year. The company saw its overall global sales increase year-over-year 15.7% to about $11.2 billion.

LG's mobile communications unit reported sales of about $3.75 billion with an operating profit of about $314 million. The company shipped 31.6 million units during the three-month period, which was a 37% year-over-year increase. LG saw slight dips in sales in Korea and North America, but it was able to overcome this with increased sales in emerging markets. The lower sales in mature markets did lead to a dip in the average margin per handset though.

LG is making a large push to overtake Samsung as the second-largest handset maker in the world, and it is readying a slate of high-end smartphones to help achieve this goal. The company is prepping a line of Windows Mobile 6.5 devices, and it also recently unveiled its first Android smartphone. LG will also be releasing high-profile feature phones like the Chocolate, and it will add another phone to its Prada lineup.

The company sold a record 4.01 million liquid-crystal display televisions for the quarter, and this helped the home entertainment division report a profit of $205 million on sales of about $3.97 billion. The home appliance unit posted an 11.9% year-over-year increase, and the air conditioning unit saw a decline in sales. LG said it expects lower profitability in the fourth quarter because of an increase in marketing and research and development.

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