Samsung managed to create quite a bit of buzz for the Galaxy S III in the run up to the phone's unveiling. First we thought (okay, hoped) it might turn up at CES. When it didn't, it was immediately assumed that Samsung was saving the Galaxy S III for an MWC launch. Excitement mounted after Samsung revealed it wouldn't be bringing the S III to Barcelona because it was hoping to unveil closer to launch time. The South Korean company finally introduced us to the Galaxy S III earlier this month, promising a summertime launch for the U.S. and an end-of-May launch in other markets. So, with the end of may bearing down on us, how are things looking for the Galaxy S III?

Pretty good, apparently. According to a report in Reuters, Samsung has received a mind-blowing nine million pre-orders for the device. The news outlet cites Korea Economic Daily in reporting that Samsung has accrued nine million pre-orders from 100 carriers around the world. Korea Economic Daily doesn't name it's source, preferring instead to credit an unidentified Samsung official for the information.

Samsung hasn't confirmed the number of pre-orders, so we have no way of knowing if this is true. However, if it is true, then we're in for quite a ride with the Galaxy S III. That figure is based on just 100 carriers. Samsung said earlier this month that it would be partnering with 296 carriers to launch across 145 countries, which means nine million pre-orders though just over one third of its partners. Korea Economic Daily's source said Samsung's factory is running at full capacity for this phone and pushing out five million units a month.

The Galaxy S III is the follow on to the hugely successful Galaxy S II. It packs a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED 1280 x 720 display; a quad-core Exynos processor; 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera on the back with a 1.9-megpixel affair up front; Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with Samsung's TouchWiz UI on top and new gesture functions to improve navigation; and HSPA+ support (Samsung is also working on an LTE model). The whole package will weigh in at 133g and measures just 8.6mm thick.