Samsung Electronics expects to sell up to 25 million smartphones by the close of 2010, a massive increase to the company's earlier estimate, due mostly to its recent allegiance to Google Android.
Earlier this week, Samsung said it had shipped more than 1 million of its Samsung Galaxy S smartphones in the U.S. The Galaxy S is Samsung's first smartphone on the Google Android platform, but the company said it won't be its last.
"We are prioritizing our Android platform. Android is very open and flexible, and there is a consumer demand for it," YH Lee, Samsung Mobile's head of marketing, said this week.
Selling 25 million smartphones in 2010 would be a 7 million unit bump on its original sales target of 18 million.
And while Samsung said it predicts 25 million smartphones will be sold this year, the company also has high hopes for 2011, when it expects to double the number of smartphones it ships.
"Our smartphone shipments will easily surpass 20 million units this year, thanks to strong sales of [the] recently released Galaxy S. ... We expect the number could rise as high as 25 million this year," Samsung Mobile Communications head JK Shin told EDaily news at the IFA trade show in Berlin.
Samsung's anticipated sales boost also comes as it plans to commercially release its first touch-screen tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which the company showcased at IFA this week after months of rumors, speculation and teasers around the Galaxy Tab.
Shin said that Samsung expects 1 million Galaxy Tabs to sell this year, Reuters reported.
The Galaxy Tab, which features a 7-inch touch screen and weighs 0.8 pounds, packs in the Google Android 2.2 operating system, or Froyo, meaning it can play Flash video. It is expected to hit the U.S. in coming months. The Galaxy Tab's pricing was not revealed.
