Samsung is expected to top 60 million smartphone sales this quarter, thanks to the unexpected popularity of its Galaxy Note 2 smartphone.

That's according to analysts at UBS, which told Korean news agency Yonhap News that it expects Samsung to sell 61.5 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2012, up five percent from its previous estimate of 58 million.

Most surprisingly though, UBS said that this is due to better than expected sales of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 'phablet', not the Samsung Galaxy S3.

"The Galaxy Note 2 has shipped 3 million units in its first five weeks of sales, with sell-through strong in Asia and Europe, and the U.S. gathering pace post-launch," said UBS analyst Nicolas Gaudois.

"We hence forecast 7 million Galaxy Note 2, compared to our initial expectation of 5 million for the fourth quarter."

That's not to say that the Samsung Galaxy S3 isn't still selling like hotcakes. According to UBS, Samsung sold 5.5 million Galaxy S3 handsets in October alone.

"We see a limited ramp-down, if any at all, for the Galaxy S3, and we feel comfortable with our 15 million estimate for the fourth quarter of 2012," Gaudois said.

It looks like Samsung can look forward to reporting yet another record quarter.