Samsung Global sales of the Galaxy S8 smartphones reached 5 million units in less than a month

Global sales of the Galaxy S8 smartphones reached 5 million units in less than a month after their official release, Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday, casting a brighter outlook over its mobile business for 2017.

"Although we cannot provide a detailed figure, the sales are going smoothly around the globe," a Samsung Electronics official said. "The combined sales already are beyond 5 million units."

Samsung released the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus in South Korea, the United States and Canada on April 21. The sales gradually expanded to other regions, covering most major countries in Europe.

The South Korean tech giant said the flagship smartphones will reach some 120 countries by the end of this month, including China.

The Galaxy S8 smartphones feature high resolution displays that bend on both sides and come with various innovative technologies, such as iris and face recognition scanners, and a smart voice assistance program named Bixby.

Since its release, however, the Galaxy S8 has faced various criticisms, including claims that some of the devices come with excessively red-tinted displays. Samsung ruled out speculation that devices have faulty displays, claiming the controversial red tint can be corrected by users through the settings.

While there were also claims over connection problems to the WiFi network and some devices restarting abnormally, the Galaxy S8 continues to post steady sales.

Samsung has been keeping a watchful eye on such issues, especially as the production of the Galaxy Note 7 phablet was suspended last year over safety issues with its battery.

Industry watchers said Samsung is expected to sell 20 million units of the Galaxy S8 by the end of the second quarter. Annual sales are estimated to be between 50 million and 60 million units.

Accordingly, analysts are also casting a brighter outlook over Samsung's performance for the April-June period, with some expecting its operating profit in the mobile business to jump twofold on-quarter.

Samsung's IT-mobile division posted an operating profit of 2.07 trillion won (US$1.84 billion) in the first quarter, down 1.83 percent on-year.