The highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone powerhouse is finally out of the bag and it already seems to be selling like hotcakes.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the newest Galaxy flagship smartphone and comes as the successor to the wildly popular Galaxy S3 handset. The new-generation Samsung Galaxy smartphone comes with a massive screen and boasts a 13-megapixel camera, among other things.

According to PocketLint, UK mobile distributor Carphone Warehouse says the Samsung Galaxy S4 is pre-selling at more than four times the rate of its predecessor, the Galaxy S3, which enjoyed whopping success and was a best-ever launch for Carphone. In just three days after the big announcement, Carphone Warehouse broke all pre-registration figures for the phone, taking 446 percent more pre-orders than for the Galaxy S3.

"The record breaking launch of the Galaxy SIII last year was always going to be a tough one to beat," Carphone Warehouse CEO Graham Stapleton told PocketLint. "But Samsung have pulled out all the stops with a dazzling new device that's sure to inspire many people to make the switch to Android from other operating systems."

The Samsung Galaxy S4 will become available on April 26, but no pricing details are currently available. Even so, with 446 percent more pre-orders than the Galaxy S3, the new Samsung Galaxy S4 looks like a top-selling, record-smashing smartphone already.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 sold a whopping 10 million units in its first two months on the market, and 30 million units in five months. Breaking that record will not be easy, but the Galaxy S4 seems off to a great start. Samsung shipped 57 million smartphones in the third quarter of last year, and over 400 million phones in all of 2012. Apple's iPhone 5, meanwhile, was the top-selling smartphone in the last quarter of 2012, so the Galaxy S4 has to beat those numbers.

"We're anticipating a massive amount of customer interest in this handset and are expecting our stores to be busier than at the height of the Christmas period," adds Stapleton. "We are planning to extend opening hours at our larger sites to cope with the increased demand."

As the Galaxy S3 successor, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has some big shoes to fill, and it has to convince people that it sports enough improvements to be worth the upgrade. The Galaxy S3, meanwhile, is still considered one of the hottest handsets on the market, and inevitable price cuts to make room for the Galaxy S4 will likely make it an even more popular sale.