Samsung on Sunday announced that its annual mobile handset sales this year had exceeded 300 million units for the first time in the company's history.

Samsung is following Nokia in the list of the world's largest handset makers by volume. The company said it had broken its sales record by the end of last month.

In 1996, the company 's handset sales exceeded the 1 miilion units for the first time. Ten years later, the company sold 100 million units and by 2009, sales had reached the 200 million units, Samsung said.

Samsung added that the company's flagship Galaxy S smartphone series -- Galaxy S and Galaxy S II -- contributed significantly to the 2011 results. The first Galaxy S smarphone released last year sold 10 million units within five month s after its release.