South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics is hoping to go big with its latest Gear S3 smartwatch as the company has increased the sales target for the device by 60 percent.

According to a report from South Korea, Samsung is expecting to sell a total of around five million Gear S3 units worldwide as compared to the total number of wearables it sold in 2015. Last year, the company sold a total of 3.1 million smartwatches and fitness trackers combined, GSM Arena reported.

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The Samsung Gear S3, which was unveiled at the IFA 2016 event in August, is set to be released by the end of this month. The device will be available in two versions - Samsung Gear S3 Classic and Samsung Gear S3 Frontier - and will compete with Apple's recently launched Watch Series 2.

As successors to the Gear S2, the Classic and Frontier versions come with several new features that distinguish them from their predecessors. The Classic model comes with a traditional design, while the Frontier has a "sporty look" and will come with built-in 3G and 4G LTE connectivity in some markets.

Specs-wise, both versions will feature 1.3-inch Super AMOLED display screens with 360 x 360-pixel resolution. They will run on the Tizen operating system and will be powered by 380 mAh batteries.

In the meantime, it was recently revealed that Samsung has managed to lead the smartphone race in the Italian market, capturing 42.4 percent of the total smartphone user share in the country, according to data from comScore MobiLens.

In the global smartwatch market, on the other hand, Apple Watch has taken the lead, according to recent data from reseach firm Kantar Worldpanel. Apple reportedly captured around 33.5 percent of the U.S. smartwatch market from May to July and 31.8 percent of the market share in Europe.