SEOUL - Samsung Electronics, the world's No 1 smartphone maker, said Monday that global sales of its Galaxy smartphones topped the 100 million mark just around 31 months after its debut.

Global sales of Samsung's flagship smartphone Galaxy S3 and its two predecessors Galaxy S and Galaxy S2 have surpassed 100 million unit sales as of Jan 13 this year, according to an e-mailed statement.

The Galaxy S has reached over 24 million global shipments, after achieving the 10 million sales during the first seven months after its launch in June 2010.

Building on this success, Samsung rolled out the Galaxy S2 in April 2011, of which shipments reached around 40 million after topping the 10 million mark in just five months of its debut.

The Galaxy S3, unveiled in May 2012, became the 10 million seller just 50 days after its launch, and it breached the 40 million unit of sales just seven months after its launch. The latest Galaxy device made Samsung's fastest selling smartphone yet, the company said.

Helped by brisk sales of Galaxy devices, Samsung posted a new quarterly high of operating profit in the fourth quarter. The company's fourth-quarter operating profit reached 8.8 trillion won (around $8.3 billion), breaching the previous high for five straight quarters.