Samsung Electronics said Friday that global sales of its large Galaxy Note II smartphone had topped three million since its debut in late September, as archrival Apple's iPad mini hit stores.

The South Korean electronics giant said sales of the gadget -- sold in some 100 nations -- grew far faster than its predecessor and would likely be more than three times those of the Galaxy Note in the first three months after launch.

Samsung -- the world's top smartphone maker -- sold about two million Galaxy Note phones in the three months after its debut last November.

Galaxy Note II -- about 15.1 centimetres long (5.9 inches) and 8 centimetres wide -- is slightly bigger than the firm's flagship smartphone Galaxy S series and comes with a stylus to write notes or draw on the screen.

"It means the new product category we pioneered has successfully established itself among global consumers at last," the firm said in a statement, adding sales in the US, Europe and Asia were growing rapidly.

Samsung's rival Apple Friday launched sales of its new iPad mini in Asia including South Korea, Japan and Australia, entering the market for mobile devices sized somewhere between smartphones and tablet PCs.

The iPad mini's touchscreen measures 7.9 inches (20 centimetres) diagonally compared to 9.7 inches on the original iPad.

The two tech giants have been embroiled in a long-running patent battle in 10 countries, including the United States and Germany, with the pair accusing each other of stealing designs and technology.

In August Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its Galaxy S smartphones, but a Japanese court later rejected Apple's claim that Samsung stole its technology.

British judges order Apple to re-write Samsung statement
London (AFP) Nov 02, 2012 - US tech giant Apple has until Saturday to re-write an "inaccurate" statement relating to its patent dispute with South Korean rival Samsung, British judges have ruled.

A British court forced Apple on October 18 to post a message on the company's website stating that Samsung's Galaxy tablet computers had not infringed the design of Apple's iPad.

But Samsung complained that the message did not comply with the court order because it included comments on other rulings in Germany and the United States which had favoured Apple.

On Wednesday, senior judges agreed and told Apple to take down the statement within 24 hours.

Apple's lawyer Michael Beloff said the notice would be removed, but to the judges' surprise he suggested the tech firm would need up to two weeks to post a replacement.

"We are just amazed that you cannot put the right notice up at the same time as you take the other one down," judge Andrew Longmore told Beloff.

Judge Robin Jacob added: "I would like to see the head of Apple make an affidavit about why that is such a technical difficulty for the Apple company."

They ruled that the replacement notice should be posted within 48 hours.

The two manufacturers are locked in a bitter legal war over patents, spanning some 10 countries.

Samsung was dealt a blow in late August when a US federal jury ruled that the Korean firm infringed some of Apple's design and software patents and fined it more than $1 billion. Samsung has appealed the ruling.

In Britain, judge Colin Birss ruled in July that consumers were unlikely to confuse the iPad with Samsung's tablet because it was less "cool" than the Apple gadget.

The ruling thwarted Apple in its bid to impose a sales ban on Samsung's products.

Apple was unsuccessful in appealing the ruling, and was ordered to publish a notice on its website and in the press stating that Samsung had not infringed its designs.