Samsung's Galaxy S4 has already posted some 40 million of total sales as of Q3 2013, new reports said, likely negating the need for the South Korean tech giant to rush the release date of its predecessor - the Galaxy S5.

Numerous tech sites, citing reports from Korean online news site iNews24, pointed to the impressive GS4 milestone, which was allegedly achieved barely six months after the Android-based handset was released.

The reports indicated too that Samsung CEO JK Shin provided the data though iNews24 seems vague on the specifics. The report was not clear on when the numbers were actually posted and where the GS4 is more popular.

According to CNET, Samsung has yet to confirm the news as of press time.

At any rate, it appears that the Galaxy S4 has outpaced Samsung's 2012 flagship, which held the distinction as the bestselling handset ever produced from South Korea. By CNET's calculation, the GS4 was faster in registering its 40-million mark by two weeks.

Regardless the thin margin separating the GS4 and the GS3, it seems likely that Samsung would have a solid reason, for now, to relax a bit on its Galaxy S5 2014 launch plans, which according to earlier reports would be outed sooner than expected.

Sammy watchers expect the GS4 replacement to come out by March 2014 but as persistent reports of flagging GS4 sales continue to swirl around, pundits could not help to speculate that Samsung would be forced to push out the GS5 ahead of schedule.

It would be a purely business move, of course, as Samsung endeavours to keep its run of good financial reports, which has been the case since the company's Galaxy models took over from Apple and Nokia last year as the world's top-selling handsets.

Putting out the GS5 early, analysts figures, would keep the Samsung momentum strong even as the GS4 is reportedly losing much of the steam it carried during its first month of circulation, when it posted a whopping 10 million ship outs around the world.

Now it seems the rush is unwarranted for now. Or is it?

Some analysts believe the GS4 sales performance is on the downhill. The reasons offered vary: consumer fatigue is one but experts believe it is more on the alternatives available out there such as the iPhone 5S and the soon-to-crack Google Nexus 5.

Another factor for decline is pricing. While the GS4 is offered with significant subsidies in some markets, the U.S. in particular, most global buyers shoulder the whole cost of the handset - with contract or unlocked - which could go as high as $700 in some Asian markets.

In any event that the GS4 sales numbers will dip in the months ahead, which analysts said is only the likely direction of the device, Samsung may have to reconsider and program the Galaxy S5 to show off its powerful capabilities and possibly new form-factor sooner than the rumoured March 2014 debut.

On release date, the Galaxy S5 will likely flash an eight-core CPU with 64-bit computing standard, 3GB of RAM, 16MP or 21MP rear camera, 32GB as basic internal memory, a higher battery rating with wireless charging and KitKat 4.4 or whatever the latest Android version is out at that time.