Samsung's new foldables are popular from the start
Published: 24 Aug. 2021, 16:06
Updated: 24 Aug. 2021, 18:21
Samsung's two new foldable phones got 10 times the advance orders of the last such model.
Around 600,000 Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 3s were ordered between Aug. 17 and 23, according to SK Telecom, KT and LG U+ on Tuesday. Including phones sold directly by Samsung Electronics, the total comes to over 800,000
That’s 10 times the advance orders for Galaxy Z Fold 2 last September. It had around 80,000 advance orders.
“The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 models recorded a higher preorder number than any other Samsung Electronics flagship product in the past from the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series,” SK Telecom said.
The three telecom companies started signing up foldable customers to payment plans on Tuesday. According to KT, around 60 percent of its orders were made by people in their 30s to 40s and 71 percent were for the Galaxy Z Flip 3, the cheaper model.
Sixty percent of all orders were from people in their 30s and 40s.
The three phone companies started promotional events this week to congratulate early birds and encourage more people to order.
SK Telecom opened up a T Factory "experience zone" in Hongdae, western Seoul, where visitors could try out the new foldables. The zone will be open until Aug. 27.
KT held an opening day event at the KT Avenue Gangnam branch in southern Seoul, which was livestreamed on KT’s official YouTube channel. Table tennis athlete Shin Yu-bin and basketball player Heo Hoon joined 98 customers who had ordered the devices, chosen through a lucky draw.
LG U+ invited rapper Simon Dominic to its Daily Teum "culture space" in Gangnam on Monday evening to escort 34-year-old Min Hye-rim, the first customer to sign a payment plan, to a party. The second customer, 24-year-old Ryu Si-hyeon, also took part in the party and was given a ticket to hip-hop label AOMG’s upcoming online concert.
Samsung introduced the new models on Aug. 11 promising that they will be more durable and affordable than previous foldables. The Z Fold 3 starts from $1,799.99 compared to the Fold 2’s $1,999.99.
BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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