Galaxy S III supply shortage could have cost Samsung 2 million additional units sales

The initial shortage of Galaxy S III units might have cost Samsung about 2 million unit sales in June alone, according to a Reuters report. The Galaxy S III is the fastest selling smartphone for Samsung and is expected to cross 10 million unit sales sometime in July, less than two months of its global launch.
The initial shortage was attributed to manufacturing problems with the Pebble Blue variant of the device, which was not available in the markets on launch day. Apparently, Samsung’s then CEO and now head of Samsung Group’s corporate strategy, Choi Gee-sung ordered half-a-million Pebble Blue cases to be thrown away less than a fortnight from the launch as they were found unsatisfactory.
The final version was approved 10 days before the launch, as Choi was boarding a flight to attend a court-appointed meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook to sort out patent infringement lawsuits between the two companies. Nothing was resolved in the meeting but Samsung definitely landed a runaway hit even as Apple’s next iPhone is expected to be launched around October, which added to the Galaxy S III’s success.
Samsung is expected to sell around 8.5 million units of the Galaxy S III by the end of June. The company does not reveal sales figures in its quarterly results partly due to the pending lawsuits with Apple. The figures could be later used to determine settlement costs if Samsung were to lose them.