Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s third-largest mobile phone maker, said yesterday its annual handset shipments topped 100 million this year, a first since the company began producing the devices in 1988. “The achievement shows that Samsung is poised to be the centerpiece of the global mobile phone industry,” said Lee Ki-tae, the president of the company’s mobile phone division. To produce 100 million handsets a year, the company must produce more than three mobile phones every second, a statement by Samsung said.

Last year, Samsung sold 86.5 million mobile phones worldwide.