[Courtesy of Samsung Electronics]
SEOUL -- Samsung's new flagship smartphone, Galaxy S10, was less popular than its predecessor on the first day of registration in South Korea as many consumers await the launch of 5G models.
Industry data showed that domestic mobile carriers got some 140,000 Galaxy S10 smartphones connected on the first day of registration on Monday, compared to about 180,000 S9 phones a year ago. The registration came days ahead of the official launch of Galaxy S10e, S10 and S10+.
The number of registered Galaxy S10s did not include phones purchased without subsidies from mobile carriers. Some consumers buy smartphones through online shopping malls because they can receive discounts using credit card reward and other service points.
"The number of S10 phones registered on the first day does not really matter as there are many consumers who wait for the 5G version of S10," a market analyst associated with Samsung's affiliated companies told Aju News on condition of anonymity.
"New smartphones released by Apple and Samsung were not innovative and attractive enough to pull sales across the globe last year. Also, there are definitely people holding onto their old phones, waiting for new 5G phones to come out," the analyst said.
According to Strategy Analytics, a market research company, the global shipment of smartphones in 2018 was estimated at 1.4 billion, down 5.1 percent from a year ago. It was the first reverse growth witnessed since the smartphone boom in the early 2010s.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
