Flagship phone sales reached 1.4 million units last month

Dec 21, 2017 09:03 GMT  ·  By

Two of the three best-selling high-end smartphones last month in Korea are manufactured by Samsung, according to figures published by local media.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 was the number one model in November, The Investor reveals, with more than 10,000 units sold every day, while Apple’s iPhone X was the runner-up. Samsung Galaxy S8 was third in the charts.

Overall, all high-end models priced at $648 or higher accounted for sales of 1.4 million units and represented no less than 70 percent of all sales recorded by the country’s three mobile carriers.

iPhone X sold out in Korea in just 2 minutes

What’s important to note, however, is that the iPhone X only launched in Korea in mid-November, so reaching the second place is quite an achievement for Apple anyway.

Furthermore, the anniversary iPhone sold out in the country in less than 2 minutes when pre-orders started, with all three carriers saying that original supply wasn’t enough to meet the demand. While official information in this regard wasn’t provided, people close to the matter said Korea received approximately 100,000 iPhone X units for the beginning of the pre-order program, and this was cited as the main reason the device sold out so fast.

With all these setbacks, it’s remarkable the iPhone X did manage to overtake the Samsung Galaxy S8 last month, especially when taking into account its price. In South Korea, the most affordable iPhone X with 64GB storage costs $1,237, while in the United States it comes with a price tag of $999.

Apple’s iPhone X is expected to become the best-selling high-end smartphone in Korea in December, especially as inventory issues are being addressed and more units reach the stores. A major sales boom is also likely to be experienced in early 2018 when the iPhone X will finally become available for walk-in customers in the majority of markets worldwide.