South Korea brokerages are predicting a rebound in earnings for Samsung Electronics Co., which was hit hard by disappointing sales and stiffer competition last year, as the tech giant gets ready to launch new models in 2015.

The average estimates given by 20 local securities for the January-March period said the firm would mark 5.2 trillion won ($4.74 billion) in operating profit, roughly on par with 5.29 trillion won reached in the fourth quarter of 2014.

They said the more upbeat forecasts reflect fourth-quarter earnings that surged 30.24 percent compared to the previous quarter's 4.6 trillion won.

HMC Investment Securities predicted first-quarter earnings to soar to 5.96 trillion won, with Meritz Securities Co. and Hyundai Securities Co. estimating 5.4 trillion won each. Dongbu Securities Co. and Daishin Securities, on the other hand, said numbers may stay under 5 trillion won.

The brokerages generally agreed that Samsung Electronics hit bottom in the third quarter.

"The first quarter is generally a slow period in the mobile business so any gains will be limited, but there is a view that the launch of the company's new flagship can boost profits for the IT and mobile communications division," said Lee Min-hee, an analyst from I'M Investment & Securities Co.

Lee projected that because of the slow market, the company will spend less on marketing that can further boost earnings.

Others said investors are beginning to have higher expectations for the world's largest mobile phone maker.

"With the exception of consumer electronics, all other divisions within the company reported improvements in earnings in the last quarter," said Kim Byung-ki, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.

Following such views, 12 foreign investor institutions checked by Bloomberg late last month showed the average price for Samsung shares being evaluated at 1,602,000 won for 2015, up 9.5 percent from the average 1,463,000 won tallied for last year.

Companies such as JP Morgan even predicted share prices reaching 1,700,000 won.

Despite such generally upbeat forecasts, others warned that securities firms and investors have tended to paint an overly optimistic picture of earnings predictions in the past.

Other developments fueling a better earnings report for the first quarter is the fact that the tech giant started to buy back shares from late November onward. It has been estimated Samsung's buyback entailed just under 2.19 trillion won worth of shares being repurchased by the company. As a rule, buyback results in share prices going up.

In addition, the company giving out cash dividends as promised is helping share prices and buoying optimistic predictions.

Market watchers are also waiting for the next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6, expected to be unveiled in early March at the Mobile World Congress in Spain. Samsung is expected to feature significant changes to design and capabilities to keep it ahead of Apple, its arch rival.

Apple, thanks to the popularity of the iPhone 6, was the best-selling phone maker in the fourth quarter.

Insiders said the S6 will ditch the plastic exterior for a much more premium metal chassis and will have an "edge" variant like the Note 4 Edge model that was seen as the most innovative design for the whole of last year by many overseas tech gurus.

The relatively weak sales of the S5 had been largely attributed to customers getting tired of the "same old design" advocated by Samsung, as well as the plastic build material.

In addition, most experts said the internals of the S6 will be top notch internal specs, with some predicting up to an 8-megapixel front-facing selfie camera and 20-megapixel main shooter that can capture 4K moving images.

There has been speculation it will have a quad HD AMOLED screen with the handset coming with Samsung's own Exynos application processor. Samsung had used its Exynos AP in the past, but it was usually alongside Quacomm's Snapdragon engine.

"While rumors coming out of Samsung may be a marketing ploy, there is a sense that the S6, called the 'Project Zero' within the company, may signal a big change for the tech company and the way it makes phones," one watcher said.

He predicted that the company will also introduce more wearables and other devices in the coming months that can permit it to get back on track in attracting consumers. (Yonhap)