Demand for Samsung’s newest flagship Galaxy S8 smartphone beat expectations, with the head of the its mobile division saying orders for the device exceeded those of its predecessor the S7.

Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung’s mobile communications unit, said it received 720,000 orders for the S8 in just seven days, Yonhap reported.

The news agency reported Koh as saying: “Initial market response is better than expected. The response in overseas markets is also good compared to that for the Galaxy S7.”

He said it expects advance orders for the latest devices to top 1 million units by Monday 17 April.

With a number of new safety measures implemented to avoid battery failures, which caused some Note 7 models to catch fire, and the flagship model to be pulled in 2016, Koh said the S8 will be the safest Galaxy model to date.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in March, featuring iris and facial recognition as well as an ‘infinity display’.

The official release is scheduled for 21 April in the US, with other global markets due to receive the smartphone from 28 April.

Last week South Korea-headquartered Samsung forecast a near 50 per cent jump in Q1 2017 operating profit, with its memory chip business reportedly the main driver behind the robust growth.