Newest Samsung Flagship Sees 20M Pre-Orders
That’s certainly a step in the right direction: a report in the Korea Times today (via Neowin) says that Samsung’s latest flagship handset, the Galaxy S6, has received over 20 million pre-orders just a week after its unveiling at MWC in Barcelona. Apparently this number of pre-orders is a milestone for Samsung.
A “top executive” from a “leading mobile carrier in Europe” told the Times that “Samsung received some 20 million pre-orders for the S6 and S6 Edge – 15 million of S6 and five million of S6 Edge from mobile carriers worldwide. This is the record.”
Samsung Mobile’s own JK Shin confirmed the response garnered by the S6 to reporters at MWC, too.
“To be honest, pre-orders of the two Galaxy variants from our major clients are really huge,” he’s quoted as saying. The report adds that the S6 has easily outperformed pre-orders for the S5 already.
That’s great news for Samsung, which has struggled over the last year or so to make much of a splash in its mobile division. The Galaxy S5 was a perfectly good phone, but it suffered from a non-premium feel and nothing in the way of surprises or innovations. The response from mobile customers was tepid, resulting in millions of unsold phones moldering in warehouses.
The S5 sold 12 million units to customers in its first three months on the market, while the S4 had sold 16 million units in the same period. That the S6 would see 20 million pre-orders – to say nothing of its sales after it comes out – is a major boon for Samsung’s mobile efforts. It shows that offering premium design can sometimes be as important as what’s happening under the hood.
The Galaxy S6 comes out on April 10, so it’ll be interesting to see whether or not this device brings Samsung back to the forefront of the mobile industry. Hopefully they’ve learned the right lessons from past failures and can start pumping out more high end handsets before too long.
[Source: Korea Times via Neowin]