Korean tech giant Samsung is well on their way to setting new records with the recently released Galaxy S 4 smartphone. An unnamed Samsung executive recently told a Korean newspaper that the company supplied four million Galaxy S4 handsets to telecoms around the world at the end of April.
As of May 10, Samsung said they have sold more than six million units and could easily top the 10 million mark by the end of this month. That's pretty impressive for a smartphone that didn't begin shipping until April 26 and is outpacing previous Samsung launches by a large margin. But how does it stack up to previous launches?
In 2010, it took Samsung 85 days to ship three million Galaxy SI handsets. A year later the company was able to ship three million Galaxy SIIs in 55 days and in 2012 it took just 21 days to move three million Galaxy SIIIs. And for 2013, it took just 19 days to move six million Galaxy S 4s.
As Information Week points out, Samsung can credit the continued growth to a strong marketing push and distribution agreements. True enough, the Galaxy S 4 hit all four of the major wireless carriers in the US and is even available from regional telecoms like US Cellular and Cricket. It starts at $199 and goes up to $249 - depending on storage capacity - with a two year agreement on most carriers. Or if you want to skip subsidies and pick up an S 4 with a clean install of Android, Google has you covered starting next month for $649.