Samsung Electronics said global sales of its Galaxy S smartphone series surpassed 100 million units since the first model was launched less than three years ago. The South Korean firm said Monday it sold more than 25 million Galaxy S smartphones, 40 million Galaxy S II smartphones and 41 million Galaxy S III smartphones in the last three years.

Samsung rolled out the first Galaxy S model at the end of May 2010, scrambling to catch up with Apple, which was reshaping the market with the iPhone.

Despite a late entry, Samsung quickly caught up the US firm and became the biggest smartphone maker. Galaxy S series achieved the 100-million-sales milestone faster than Apple’s iPhone, which took about four years for this.