SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Wednesday said first-quarter profit likely rose 44%, which analysts attributed to brisk sales of home appliances, smartphones and TVs, though chip earnings likely fell after a winter storm halted U.S. output. The South Korean technology giant forecast January-March operating profit of 9.3 trillion won ($8.32 billion), in line with a 9.3 trillion won analyst forecast from Refinitiv SmartEstimate. Revenue likely rose 17% from the same period a year prior to 65 trillion won, the firm said in a short preliminary earnings release. Samsung is due to release detailed earnings later this month. Analysts said Samsung’s mobile division likely saw operating profit soar more than 1 trillion won to about 4.15 trillion won after its flagship Galaxy S21 smartphone series outsold the previous version by a two-to-one margin in the six weeks since its January launch, according to research provider Counterpoint. A lower starting price for the flagship helped sales for the world’s largest smartphone maker during the quarter, with the S21 priced $200 lower than the S20, Counterpoint said. In its chip division, analysts said profit likely fell about 20% to 3.6 trillion won due to the cost of ramping up new domestic production and losses at its Texas factory following a mid-February stoppage, blunting the benefits of globally strong demand. Profit in Samsung’s television set and home appliance business likely more than doubled to around 1 trillion won, analysts said, due to continued stay-at-home demand.