Galaxy Fold U.S. orders are brisk
Published: 15 Apr. 2019, 20:44
The Korean electronics giant said it started accepting reservations for advance orders of the highly anticipated smartphone for U.S. consumers Friday but had to stop a day later.
“The Galaxy Fold reservation list is full,” Samsung said on its U.S. website. “Due to high demand, we are unable to accept any more preorder reservations. We will alert you when Galaxy Fold is available.”
The company did not mention how many phones were available.
The Galaxy Fold is expected to go on sale in the United States for $1,980 on April 26. The company is also accepting preorders for the foldable device in Europe on April 26, with an official release date for the continent set for May 3.
A 5G version of the Galaxy Fold will be released in Korea’s domestic market in mid-May.
The company said earlier that it aims to sell more than one million Galaxy Fold smartphones globally this year. The company hopes the foldable device, along with a new smartphone strategy, will boost sales in face of toughening global competition and saturated smartphone demand.
Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer by market share, changed its strategy this year to launch a wider range of models to better cater to various consumers.
Unlike the past, when the company often made two variants of a product lineup, the latest flagship Galaxy S10 series came in three variants, the S10, the S10 Plus (which was larger) and the S10e (the smallest of the three). That model outperformed its predecessors upon its debut in the United States.
According to U.S. smartphone tracker Counterpoint Research, the S10 series sold 16 percent more in the first week of sales compared to the Galaxy S9 series last year.
Counterpoint predicted Friday that the S10 series will ship 40 million units in 2019 as it faces less competition than last year. The S9 sold around 35 million units in the last year.
BY KO JUN-TAE [ko.juntae@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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