Katie Marsal
Preorders for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in South Korea are estimated to have already topped 100,000 units, besting Apple's chief rival Samsung and its Galaxy Note 4 in its native country.
While preorders for Apple's new iPhones are estimated to have hit the six-figure mark in South Korea, presales for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 were less than half that in a similar timeframe, at just 30,000 units, according to The Wall Street Journal. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are set to reach consumers' hands in South Korea this Friday.
The bulk of preorders in have been through carrier KT Corp., which was the first to offer the iPhone in Korea. It reported that presales for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded 50,000 units in just 30 minutes.
Another 20,000 preorders were handled in the first 20 minutes by LG Uplus Corp., while SK Telecom Co. declined to offer specific figures.
The presales suggest that Apple could make significant gains in South Korea, a market where it has just a 6 percent market share. Samsung is unsurprisingly the dominant player in its home country, accounting for 63 percent of devices.
Samsung itself admitted last month that it launched the Galaxy Note 4 early in South Korea and China because consumers showed a "positive reaction" to the announcement of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The Galaxy Note 4 debuted in September, and made its way to the U.S. earlier this month.
The iPhone 6 Plus, in particular, is Apple's response to the popular "phablet" trend of jumbo-sized smartphones. Up until the debut of the iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung's stylus-based Galaxy Note series was the most popular phablet model.
The fourth-generation Galaxy Note features a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED screen that's slightly larger than the iPhone 6 Plus. But graphics tests have shown the Galaxy Note 4 falls behind the iPhone 6 Plus in terms of performance.
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80 Comments
I don't recall seeing an article by Miss Marsal before. Let it not be said that AppleInsider doesn't welcome women with talent.
That's hilarious!
Given the huge power that Samsung has in Korea, that's practically treason!
But even stupid national pride will not make people choose an inferior product!
LMFAO...childish yes...but i am LMFAO!
why is the note so bad? i played with one for a few minutes and was generally impressed, aside from not really knowing how to use it because it was android.
[quote name="sog35" url="/t/183072/iphone-6-6-plus-preorders-outpace-galaxy-note-4-in-samsungs-home-country-of-south-korea#post_2627914"]No reason to get a Note except for national pride at this point. [/quote] As an artist who uses Wacom tablets every day, I was very seriously considering one because of the stylus. In the end I just couldn't stomach the thought of having to use Android, but I sure wish Apple made some products (OS X or iOS) that use a pressure sensitive stylus for drawing.