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    25 June 2012| last updated at 12:47PM

    Samsung eyes 10 million mark for S3



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    SEOUL: South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, said Monday it expects to have sold 10 million of its newest Galaxy S3 model by the end of July, two months after its launch.

    J.K. Shin, head of the mobile communications division, said robust sales of  the model would help Samsung’s mobile business post a second-quarter profit  bigger than the three months.

    “We’re getting more positive reviews for Galaxy S3 than the previous Galaxy  S1 and S2 since the release in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia  beginning May 29,” Shin said at an event to mark the phone’s domestic release  on Monday.

    He estimated that global sales of the new phone — currently available in  147 countries — would surpass 10 million next month, including about a million  to be sold at home.        “We’re doing fairly well in emerging-economy markets... I think our  second-quarter earnings will be better than the first quarter’s, despite the  difficult economic situation in Europe,” Shin said.

    The company, the world’s biggest technology firm by revenue, posted a  record net profit for all its divisions of 5.05 trillion won ($4.44 billion) in  the first quarter, thanks largely to strong smartphone sales.

    The third version of the Galaxy S series offers face-recognition technology  and improved voice-activated controls as well as a more powerful processor that  lets users watch video and write emails simultaneously.

    It also has a 4.8-inch (12.2-centimetre) screen that is 22 percent larger  than the S2, while it can 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 of US arch-rival Apple, according to market researcher  Strategy Analytics in April.

    Samsung, embroiled in patent lawsuits in 10 nations with Apple, is pinning  its hopes on the S3 to further erode its rivals’ market share before the  expected new version of Apple’s iPhone 5 this year.

    In a rare victory for the Korean firm, a Dutch court last week ruled in  favour of Samsung and ordered the US giant to pay unspecified damages for  patent infringement.    - AFP

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