Samsung Galaxy S3 To Top 10 Million Sales In July; South Korean Variant Could Be World's First Quad-Core LTE Phone

Samsung's Galaxy S3 was expected to see its global sales top 10 million units in July. It will become the fastest 10-million-seller in Samsung's history, Xinhua News Agency quoted Shin Jong-kyun, president and head of Samsung's mobile communications business, as saying.

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 added.

Samsung Galaxy S3, which was unveiled in Seoul, Monday, is planned to be shipped to 302 wireless carriers in 147 different countries worldwide by the end of July. The company will reportedly roll out the smartphone in South Korea on the faster, upgraded 4G LTE networks next month through the country's three mobile carriers such as SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus.

Beyond the Galaxy S3 sales target for July, Samsung also expects to sell as many 200 million smartphones by the end of this year to maintain its position as the leading handset manufacturer in the world.

According to The Guardian, the expected sales figures refer to shipments of the Galaxy S3 to carriers, not customers; unlike Apple, which is able to record activations of each iPhone by an end-user, Samsung does not disclose sales figures to consumers.

Apart from sales estimates, Shin also predicted that earnings from its handset division would be higher in the current second quarter than in January-March.

The overall market condition was challenging due to euro zone issues and tight supply of components ... but [our] second-quarter results will be better than the first quarter, Shin said.

The South Korean tech giant rolled out global sales of its Galaxy S3 on May 29. However, the shipments have been affected by the tight supply of parts such as the handset casing for the pebble-blue model, the report added.

According to market researcher Strategy Analytics, in April, Samsung shipped 44.5 million smartphones in the first quarter, exceeding the 35.1 million of rival Apple, AFP reported.

South Korean Galaxy S3: World's First Quad-Core LTE Phone?

Prior to the release of the Samsung Galaxy S3, rumors surrounding the device suggested that it would feature the Exynos 4 Quad, 4G LTE and 2GB of RAM. But that was not what exactly happened as various carriers across countries are offering the smartphone with differing components inside it. While the 4G LTE models have been powered by a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor instead of Samsung's own quad-core Exynos chip, the Japanese and Canadian variants come with 2GB of RAM, unlike the international model of the device with 1GB of RAM.

Now, as noted by The Verge, the South Korean variant of the Galaxy S3 is expected to feature 4G LTE support and 2GB RAM as well as the quad-core Exynos processor. If the speculation turns out to be true, it would be the world's first quad-core LTE phone to be made official.

Samsung has announced that the Korean LTE version of the Galaxy S3 will be available in early July with additional features that include an antenna for DMB TV broadcasting and a new video hub with around 500 titles available.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 sports a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display, which is surrounded by an ultra-thin bezel to maximize the viewing area of the handset. It weighs 4.7 ounces (133.24 grams) and is 8.6 millimeters thin.

The device also features Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, 4G LTE connectivity, 2GB of RAM, an 8MP Rear-facing camera, a 1.9MP Front-facing camera and a 2100 mAh battery.

From the connectivity part, the smartphone comes with NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, DLNA, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n and MHL Video Out.

Galaxy S3's other features include AllShare Play, Group Cast and Share Shot functions allowing users to share photos with others. Another feature, the S-Beam, allows easy transfer of large files from Galaxy S3 to another device by touching the backs of the two devices.

The much talked about feature of the Galaxy S3 is S Voice, a language recognition technology allowing customers to control applications and services with words instead of touch. The handset also includes camera features like Best Shot to choose the best image from a series when taking a photo.

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