Samsung Galaxy S III

The Samsung Galaxy S III is a multi-touch, slate-format smartphone running the Android operating system. It is designed, developed, and marketed by Samsung Electronics. It sees additional software features, expanded hardware, and a redesigned physique from its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S II. The S III employs an intelligent personal assistant (S Voice), eye-tracking ability, increased storage, and a wireless charging option. Depending on country, the 4.8-inch (120 mm) smartphone comes with different processors and RAM capacity, and 4G LTE support.^[10] The device was launched with Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich", and can be updated to Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean".

Following an eighteen-month development phase, Samsung unveiled the S III on 3 May 2012 in London.^[11] The device was released in 28 European and Middle Eastern countries on 29 May 2012, before being progressively released in other major markets in June 2012. Prior to release, 9 million pre-orders were placed by more than 100 carriers globally.^[12] The S III was released by approximately 300 carriers in nearly 150 countries at the end of July 2012.^[4] More than 20 million units of the S III were sold within the first 100 days of release.^[5]

Due to overwhelming demand and a manufacturing problem with the blue version of the phone,^[13] there was an extensive shortage of the S III, especially in the United States. Nevertheless, the S III was well-received commercially and critically, with some technology commentators touting it as the "iPhone killer".^[14] It played a major role in boosting Samsung's record operating profit during the second quarter of 2012.^[15] As of October 2012, the Galaxy S III is a subject of a high-profile lawsuit between Samsung and Apple.