Samsung's Galaxy S6, S6 Edge receive tepid interest in native South Korea

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited April 2015
While most industry watchers predict strong sales for Samsung's latest flagship smartphones, South Korean consumers do not appear smitten with the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, bringing home just 20,000 handsets per day since their release.




In its home country, Samsung sold "a little over 200,000" devices from the new S6 lineup between April 10 and April 20, according to the Yonhap News Agency. That number is said to be significantly below South Korean carriers' pre-orders, which reportedly came in at approximately 300,000 units.

The publication speculates that sluggish sales may be down to low carrier subsidies, which did not exceed 210,000 won ($194) until recently. South Korea caps handset subsidies at 330,000 won by law.

"We expect sales will improve soon, as the mobile carriers decided to increase subsidies on the Galaxy S6 series," one retailer told Yonhap.

Though Samsung has yet to release official figures, sales of the S6 and S6 Edge are believed to have been somewhat more brisk abroad. The company is thought to have taken some 20 million pre-orders from carriers worldwide, though that total does not reflect actual sales to consumers.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 46
    Samsung's desperation to sell the S5 created this situation, where they pretty much had to give that phone away to move units out of warehouses. With people thus conditioned, trying to sell the S6 at a premium prices will be going against the wind. Many of those who might want an S6 may just wait until Samsung exhibits desperation again.
  • Reply 2 of 46

    Hmmm... This article is experiencing difficulties. :-(

     

    404 Errors. Slow load time. Lost comment.

     

    Anyway, thanks AI for getting the news out about the S6!

     

    I am happily surprised about this!!

  • Reply 3 of 46
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member

    Consumers who wanted an iPhone have mostly bought one already. Those who like Android are not looking for an iPhone-like experience... or if they are, they're not getting it with Android.

     

    Did anyone here see the myopic reporting on ABC World News last night about the dangers of smartphone apps? The vast majority of the concern would be for Android devices, yet not a mention of that, and mostly iconic images from iOS were shown. Android is insecure by design.

  • Reply 4 of 46
    "I'm Sarah McLachlan. Millions of Samsung smartphones are destroyed each year because nobody wanted them! Please, you can help. Adopt an unwanted Galaxy S6 from a phone shelter today. Together we can make a difference. Thank you."
  • Reply 5 of 46
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,035member

    Samsung sold "a little over 200,0000" devices

     

    I suspect a typo.

  • Reply 6 of 46
    magman1979magman1979 Posts: 1,292member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post

     

    While most industry watchers predict strong sales for Samsung's latest flagship smartphones


    I present to you exhibit A) Predictions made by Wall Street anal-ysts, aka "industry watchers" was the first criminal act committed here,

     

    And exhibit B) It's a Samsung junker running Android masquerading as a "premium product", which should be labelled as completely misleading and found guilty of fraud.

  • Reply 7 of 46
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member

    I expected Samsung to hit home run in their own turf. This seems a little disappointed after all kinds of hypes with "Edge" in their commercial ads. Believe or not, Samsung dominate Ads in Korea especially in TV drama series and movies in which from those multi-millionairs who either CEO of big companies or presidents of corporates to grandmas at home or people selling popcorns on streets all use Samsung phones.

  • Reply 8 of 46
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member

    20 Million pre orders world wide is not a small figure, 200,000 in just 10 days in their home territory may well be a smaller number than usual for a flagship release by Samsung but it doesn't sound particularily low to me.

  • Reply 9 of 46
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member

    This article seems a bit short on details.  Of the 300,000 pre-orders, how many are actually in the hands of carriers to sell?

     

    Another article states that originally it was anticipated that only 20-30% of orders would be for the Edge model due to it's higher cost, but apparently in South Korea 50% of orders are actually for the Edge model and Samsung is struggling to keep up and was caught short.  It looks like it could be the same sort of situation Apple find's itself in frequently where demand is outstripping manufacturing capacity.

     

    Also not mentioned is that the figure of 300,000 is the highest pre-order figure in South Korea of any Galaxy S model.

  • Reply 10 of 46
    freerangefreerange Posts: 1,597member
    saarek wrote: »
    20 Million pre orders world wide is not a small figure, 200,000 in just 10 days in their home territory may well be a smaller number than usual for a flagship release by Samsung but it doesn't sound particularily low to me.

    20 million is sales channel stuffing with the carriers. It has nothing to do with actual sales as it is merely inventory, and even then these numbers reflect commitments from the carriers and not necessarily actual shipments into their inventories yet. Samesung is very good at misleading with phony numbers pretending to be actual sales to a user.
  • Reply 11 of 46
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    South Koreans are smarter, thoughtful customers than Americans,Europeans,etc. South Koreans already bought iPhone 6/plus.
  • Reply 12 of 46
    freerangefreerange Posts: 1,597member
    cnocbui wrote: »
    This article seems a bit short on details.  Of the 300,000 pre-orders, how many are actually in the hands of carriers to sell?

    Another article states that originally it was anticipated that only 20-30% of orders would be for the Edge model due to it's higher cost, but apparently in South Korea 50% of orders are actually for the Edge model and Samsung is struggling to keep up and was caught short.  It looks like it could be the same sort of situation Apple find's itself in frequently where demand is outstripping manufacturing capacity.

    Also not mentioned is that the figure of 300,000 is the highest pre-order figure in South Korea of any Galaxy S model.

    And you don't mention that the iPhone actually outsells the Samsung Galaxy in Korea. Needless to say, any numbers coming out of Samsung are known to be bullshit antway.
  • Reply 13 of 46
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member

    I don't know why so called smaller subsidies are to blame.  It didn't seem to slow down iPhone sales at all.   I also don't get the whole subsidies name calling.  In reality it's more of a short term loan.  You get a phone for cheaper up front, but you're paying that money back in the life of your contract.  A subsidy is basically FREE money!  You take from one group and give it to another group.  Spread the Wealth!!!  That's what it is.  This is not what's happening unless you get a Obama phone.   Then that free or cheap phone is being paid for by everyone else as a Tax on their service.  Now that's a subsidies phone!!!  Taking money from a group of people increasing their costs to give away a phone and cheaper service to someone else.

     

    Getting your iPhone or Samsung phone or whatever for FREE or maybe $199 or whatever, you're still paying for it every month under that 2 year contract, which generally means in the end you paid more then what you would have paying full price up front.  There's your Interest you're paying on your short term 2 year loan.

  • Reply 14 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post

     

    Did anyone here see the myopic reporting on ABC World News last night about the dangers of smartphone apps? The vast majority of the concern would be for Android devices, yet not a mention of that, and mostly iconic images from iOS were shown. Android is insecure by design.


    Perhaps a call from Iger (CEO of the company that owns ABC and Apple Board Member) is in order...

  • Reply 15 of 46

    Ouch.

  • Reply 16 of 46
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

    The fact that Samsung has been silent about the sales of the S6 is all the proof I need 




    They haven't been silent, in fact they sound surprised and happy, they just haven't released actual numbers.

  • Reply 17 of 46
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post

     

    This article seems a bit short on details.  Of the 300,000 pre-orders, how many are actually in the hands of carriers to sell?

     

    Another article states that originally it was anticipated that only 20-30% of orders would be for the Edge model due to it's higher cost, but apparently in South Korea 50% of orders are actually for the Edge model and Samsung is struggling to keep up and was caught short.  It looks like it could be the same sort of situation Apple find's itself in frequently where demand is outstripping manufacturing capacity.

     

    Also not mentioned is that the figure of 300,000 is the highest pre-order figure in South Korea of any Galaxy S model.




    Can you provide a link to the article you mentioned in your comment?

  • Reply 18 of 46
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by saarek View Post

     

    20 Million pre orders world wide is not a small figure, 200,000 in just 10 days in their home territory may well be a smaller number than usual for a flagship release by Samsung but it doesn't sound particularily low to me.




    20 million CARRIER "pre-orders", that translates to not sold at all: just stocking the shelves of the carriers warehouses waiting for a buyer to appear.

     

    The closing sentence: "The company is thought to have taken some 20 million pre-orders from carriers worldwide, though that total does not reflect actual sales to consumers."

  • Reply 19 of 46
    paul94544paul94544 Posts: 1,027member
    I have a used car for you , only one owner
  • Reply 20 of 46
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by leavingthebigG View Post

     



    Can you provide a link to the article you mentioned in your comment?




     

    Here: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20150414000225

    Quote:


    According to the sources, sales of the Galaxy S6 Edge currently make up about 50 percent of the shipments of all Galaxy S6 models worldwide, far higher than the market estimate of 20 to 30 percent made ahead of the release.

    "While we cannot reveal the exact sales figure, the domestic sales volume over past three days is an all-time high (among previous Galaxy models)," an industry insider said.

    The combined pre-orders of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge came to 300,000 in South Korea, far exceeding sales of any Galaxy lineup released earlier, according to market sources.

    The surging popularity of the Galaxy S6 Edge has left retailers without stock of the device, industry watchers said, adding that the supply shortage will continue for at least a month.



    So the sales of 200,000 seems to be because they didn't physically have 300,000 on hand to sell.  The article AI has quoted seems to be short a few salient facts.

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