As if anyone needed any more proof that the Samsung’s Galaxy S III would sell like (slightly more expensive) hotcakes, a report from the Korea Economic Daily reveals that the long-awaited handset racked up over 9 million pre-orders from mobile carriers across the globe.
To put that number in a bit of perspective, the tremendously popular Galaxy S II was officially unveiled at MWC in February 2011, and managed to rack up 3 million global pre-orders by the end of April. Its successor, on the other hand, managed to garner triple the number of pre-orders in the three weeks since it was revealed in London.
The news comes from (what else) an anonymous Samsung representative, who also pointed out that production was in full swing at the company’s facility in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. At that pace, Korean analysts expect that the consumer electronics giant is capable of churning out nearly 5 million Galaxy S IIIs each month.
Given the months of hype surrounding it and the scores of carriers across the globe that have already committed to carrying it — 296 at last glance — the Galaxy S III seems well-equipped to shatter the records set by its forebears. It wasn’t long ago that Samsung announced that the Galaxy S II had tiptoed over the 20 million sales mark, an accomplishment that came roughly 10 months after the device launched. Nine million units potentially in the bag is a strong start, and it doesn’t even include U.S. customers — our LTE-enabled models are slated to hit our shores well after the first international batches are sent out.
