Samsung meets 10 million Galaxy S III sales target
South Korea's Samsung Electronics, the world's top smartphone maker, has sold more than 10 million units of its newest Galaxy S III model since its launch about two months ago, a report said.
Earlier this month, the company said that it expected a record operating profit of 6.7 trillion won (AU$5.68 billion) in the second quarter, boosted by strong sales of its flagship Galaxy smartphones.
The Korean firm, which is battling with Apple's iPhone and iPad for supremacy in the lucrative smartphone and tablet market, has seen heavy demand for its new Galaxy S III phone, which was introduced in Europe in May.
"It appears that [accumulated sales] has exceeded 10 million units," said JK Shin, head of Samsung's Mobile Communications Division, according to Yonhap news agency on Sunday.
Last month, Shin said that he expected the global sales of the new phone — available in more than 140 countries — would surpass 10 million by the end of July, including sales of about a million units at home.
The third version of the firm's Galaxy S series offers face-recognition technology and improved voice-activated controls, as well as a more powerful processor.
It also has a 12.2-centimetre screen that is 22 per cent larger than the previous S2 version. It can also detect eye movements and override the automatic shutdown if the user is looking at the screen.
Samsung shipped 44.5 million smartphones in the first quarter, exceeding the 35.1 million shipments made by US arch-rival Apple, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics in April.
Samsung, embroiled in a slew of patent suits with Apple in international courts, is pinning its hopes on the S III to further erode Apple's market share before the expected new version of Apple's iPhone 5 this year.
Earlier this month, Samsung won one of those patent battles, with a British judge ruling that Samsung's Galaxy tablet did not infringe Apple's registered design and that consumers were not likely to confuse it with the iPad tablet. Although, the victory was bitter sweet, as the reason for the Judge's decision was that they thought the Samsung lacked the cool factor of Apple's iPad.
Today, the patent battle continues in Australia, as Apple seeks to prove that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes on its patents, while Samsung has claimed that the iPhone and iPad infringes on some of its patents.