LG announces 1 million sales of its flagship Optimus G smartphone

Almost four months after launching the Optimus G smartphone, LG has announced that it has sold over 1 million units, Korean news agency Yonhap reports.

The Optimus G arrived in Korea in September before heading to other countries in October. 1 million units puts it significantly behind rival handsets from Samsung and Apple. The Galaxy S3, for instance, has achieved 41 million in channel sales since its launch last May, and Apple sold over 2 million iPhone 5 units in just its first weekend of mainland China sales.

While the Optimus G has yet to arrive in China, an LG representative has indicated that it will land there and in Europe later this quarter. LG sold 7 million smartphones in the third quarter of 2012.

The company is optimistic about growth in 2013, though, as it expects to sell 45 million smartphones this year. That could be a challenge, given how long it took for the Optimus G, one of two flagship models released this fall, to hit its first million.

Still, LG will see a substantial boost in smartphone sales with the help of the Nexus 4, which was itself inspired by the Optimus G, once the company can overcome its supply issues.

It’s not clear exactly how many Nexus 4 units have been sold, but an LG executive did recently note that the 375,000 number based on guesswork from the handset’s serial numbers was too low.