SEOUL: Samsung Electronics said on Thursday that global sales of its new Galaxy S III smartphone had topped 20 million since its launch in late May, amid legal battles with Apple over alleged patent infringements.

Six million units have been sold in Europe since it hit stores a little over three months ago, followed by 4.5 million in Asia and four million in North America, the South Korean tech giant said in a statement.

“Galaxy S III ... is being sold three times faster than the previous Galaxy S II and six times faster than the first version of Galaxy S,” the statement said.

The third version of the Galaxy S series offers face-recognition technology and improved voice-activated controls as well as a more powerful processor that lets users watch video and write emails simultaneously.

The company has been embroiled in a long-running global patent war with Apple, with both companies accusing the other of stealing intellectual property for their own products.

Apple won $1.05 billion in patent damages on August 24 at a California court, but a Japanese court last week rejected the US tech giant's claim that Samsung stole its technology.

Apple, which previously filed patent infringement actions on earlier versions of the Galaxy S series, added Galaxy S III to the list in a fresh complaint filed last week.