LG’s Optimus L Series smartphones top 15 million sales, as their successors wait in the wings

Following the announcement that it would debut its new Optimus L Series II smartphones at Mobile World Congress earlier in the week, Korean smartphone maker LG has provided an update on its the original L Series range, noting that sales have now eclipsed 15 million units.

Update: LG says today’s announcement was issued ahead of schedule and was meant to have been circulated on Sunday. Maybe then the L Series will have eclipsed the magic 15 million mark.

LG says that over the past two months alone, it was selling an Optimus L Series every second, including handsets that were launched back at last year’s Mobile World Congress. This follows news that the company’s flagship smartphone — the Optimus G — had sold over 1 million units in 4 months.

Boosted by the launch of the 3.2-inch L3II, 4.0-inch L5II and 4.3-inch L7II, its new Optimus L Series II handsets, LG expects to sell 45 million smartphones this year. However, the Korean handset maker faces tough competition from Apple and Samsung, which accounted for 52 percent of global smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2012.

“The success of the Optimus L Series is testament to our belief all along that there is indeed a market for well-balanced smartphones that represent individuals’ unique tastes,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG’s mobile business. “The new Optimus L SeriesII expands upon the design philosophy of the original series so we’re quite confident that we’ll have another hit on our hands.”

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LG’s definition of a hit may be significantly different to Samsung’s; its rival has seen more than 41 million channel sales of its Galaxy S III handset alone, which launched in May 2012.