Samsung: We Shipped 300 Million Cellphones This Year, and It’s Not Even Over Yet

Samsung has recorded a massive increase in the shipments of its mobile phones over the past year, charting a new milestone.

Late Sunday, Samsung said that handset shipments for 2011 have surpassed 300 million units, the first time they’ve done so since the company entered the mobile-phone market in 1988.

More impressive still: They reached that number by the end of November.

So really, this is an 11-month record. It also happens to exceed Samsung’s 2010 handset shipments by a fairly wide margin. Last year, the company recorded sales of 280 million handsets. And it took a full year to do it.

Obviously, Samsung has seen sales accelerate significantly over the past year. And according to company executives, that’s largely thanks to its flagship Galaxy S series smartphones. The S series has been Samsung’s fastest-selling device to date, passing the 10-million-sold mark in just five months.

“We attained the 300 million mark because we’ve introduced hit models in succession by banking on upscale designs and cutting-edge technology,” a Samsung executive told the Dong-a Ilbo, adding, “The attainment of the 300 million mark in mobile handsets effectively demonstrates that Korea is taking the center stage in the global mobile handset market.”