Any remaining doubts of high demand for Samsung’s Galaxy S III smartphone can be laid to rest: Vodafone told the Inquirer that pre-orders for the coming soon phone have set records, making the Galaxy S III the operator’s most pre-ordered Android device yet. Carphone Warehouse, a UK retailer echoed these sentiments, saying “The Galaxy S3 is without a doubt the fastest selling pre-order of 2012 so far.”
This follows Samsung’s own statements early in the month; the company announced 9 million pre-orders from carriers at that time. Without actual numbers from Vodafone, it’s not possible to compare the Galaxy S III to Apple’s iPhone 4S, which launched late last year, but the figures show that Samsung has a potential hot seller in hand. That’s good news for the company, which recently took the top spot for global mobile phone sales, but as I previously noted, could lead to another long, slow rollout for the handset.
Samsung says it can only produce 5 million Galaxy S III phones per month, which sounds like a lot — it is — but compared to the overall global rollout plans, may not be enough for all who want one. Samsung expects the Galaxy S III to hit 290 carriers across 145 countries around the world, so it will have to maintain a high production level over the next six to 12 months in order to avoid inventory shortages or delayed release dates in some countries.
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