Samsung has announced that, since launching in April 2011, the various guises of its flagship Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone have been sold more than 20 million times worldwide.

The S II hit the 20 million target seven months faster than the original Galaxy S handset, making it the Korean company's fastest-selling smartphone ever.

The news will take some of the sting out of the shock that the Samsung Galaxy S III will not be unleashed at this year's Mobile World Congress (the S II was announced at last year's expo) with Sammy telling: "The successor to the Galaxy S II smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product."

However, a Samsung Galaxy S II Plus could be all set for MWC unveiling but this could just be a European variant of a couple of S II souped-up models that we've already seen.

First up was the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE, which Pocket-lint had a play with over in Berlin at IFA back in September - a phone which took the processing power from 1.2GHz on the original to 1.5GHz (and subsequently hit AT&T as the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket). And then there was the Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE - a phone that added 720p resolution to the Galaxy gig.

Whatever Samsung unveils at MWC and whenever the S III does finally arrive, one thing is for sure - they've got some big boots to fill.

Check out our Samsung Galaxy S II review