[WHY] Korea is Samsung's turf. Why do its young people love iPhones?

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Published: 29 Jun. 2024, 07:00 Updated: 01 Jul. 2024, 16:13

[WHY] Korea is Samsung's turf. Why do its young people love iPhones?

Apple's flagship smartphone iPhone 15 Pro and Samsung's flagship smartphone Galaxy S24 Ultra [APPLE, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Korea is, unambiguously, the home turf of Samsung Electronics. The tech giant dominates the country's smartphone market, with 75 percent of its population currently using its Galaxy series.

It's easy to see why. Samsung's biggest rival, Apple, is at a significant disadvantage. iMessage, arguably its hallmark service, is barely present in the country. The recently announced phone call record and transcription feature does not support Korean. Very few stores accept Apple Pay, a staple of urban life in the United States. Apple Maps is functional but lacks detailed navigation data as well as key features like traffic conditions, Flyover and 360-degree views. Location-sharing tools, such as AirTags and Find My, are useless altogether. Many similar features are available on Galaxy phones, however: Galaxy phones natively record phone calls, and Samsung Pay is available in almost every Korean store.

But a glance at Korea's younger population tells another story. The iPhone, despite its shortcomings, remains all the rage among the nation's 20-somethings. Some 65 percent of Koreans aged 18 to 29 owned one as of last year, according to data from Gallup Korea — roughly double Samsung's share.

How has such a hamstrung Apple managed to capture Korea's Gen Z? The answer dates back to the early 2000s and has to do with Wi-Fi, K-pop and social status.

A blue-bubble brand

In 2007, Steve Jobs introduced an ambitious "breakthrough internet communications device" that promised to serve as a media player and pocket computer in one. That product, the original iPhone, would take the United States by storm and cement Apple as the leader of the country's mobile computing industry.

On the other side of the world, the situation was different. Most smartphones sold in Korea at the time did not support Wi-Fi; they were instead equipped with a standard called Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability (WIPI), which only allowed users to connect to the internet through pricey cellular networks. And Samsung phones could only be purchased through the country's three major carriers, meaning they came preloaded with their vendors' much-loathed applications.

iPhone 3GS launched in Korea on Nov. 22, 2009, almost three years after the original iPhone was first unveiled in January 2007. [JOONGANG ILBO]

This made the newly released iPhone an incredibly attractive option — for those who could afford it. Not only was Apple's handset equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity, but it didn't come stuffed full of bloatware. Though the iPhone wouldn't officially launch in Korea until late in 2009, its 2007 iteration quickly made its way into the hands of Korea's tech-savvy and financially well-off classes, who imported it from across the globe in droves. Apple thus became associated with a clean, state-of-the-art ambiance, and its possession became a status symbol.

Seventeen years later, that brand image hasn't quite gone away. Experts say that iPhone users in Korea are still largely seen as tech-savvier and wealthier than users of the Galaxy line.

“iPhones were extremely compelling in the early days,” said Kwak Keum-joo, a psychology professor at Seoul National University. "Once that image was framed into the people, it's hard to turn the tide. You need a really impressive product to change that first impression."

iPhone 4 was launched in Korea in September 2010, three months after its release in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan. [JOONGANG ILBO]

The respective products that Apple and Samsung have added to their lineups in the years since have only contributed to that perception. Apple has never sold a fully "budget" phone, or a handset in the sub-$300 range; its entry-level iPhone SE, which carried a starting price of $399 upon its 2016 launch, has consistently carried relatively new and powerful chipsets, with the most recent 2022 model powered by the same A15 processor found in the iPhone 14. Samsung, on the other hand, sells a laundry list of Galaxy phones in Korea that are less than half the SE's price, offering significantly and noticeably worse performance and a clunkier user experience — enough to ruin a user's first impression of the entire brand.

In many ways, young Koreans' attitude toward the iPhone mirrors that of their counterparts in the United States. Over 87 percent of American teens own an iPhone, according to a 2023 Piper Sandler survey. A large part of its appeal on Apple's home turf is the image it portrays — and in particular, the "blue bubble" phenomenon in which Android owners are easily identified through the green color of their messages.

“There's so much pressure to follow the crowd when you're young and if your friends are texting with iMessage, you don't want to be the one who sticks out as the green bubble,” Allison Johnson, who covers and reviews smartphones at The Verge, told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

"When I was a kid I definitely remember it being a huge deal to have the right brand of something — shoes, jeans, etc.," Johnson added. "You didn't want to be the kid with like, off-brand Skechers. I can imagine the same principles applying to smartphones."

The blue bubble debacle doesn't apply in Korea, where the Korean-made KakaoTalk, currently claiming 44.97 million monthly active users, has been the de facto messenger for decades, but the desire to associate with a certain status very much does.

“There’s a difference between a cool brand and a brand that pretends to be cool,” Sung Yong-jun, a psychology professor at Korea University specializing in branding and consumer psychology, said in summary.

“The younger generation needs a brand that can help them express themselves and relate to them sentimentally — and Samsung just can't fulfill that."

Apple's MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and the iPhone [APPLE]

The Ecosystem

At first glance, Apple's software offerings in Korea appear limited.

Features like Find My, the iTunes Store, Apple Maps and Emergency SOS range from functional with compromises to downright unavailable. Apple Pay — launched in Korea almost a decade after its 2014 U.S. release — supports only one credit card company, is accepted almost nowhere and is not compatible with Korea's public transportation system. The iPhone's upcoming recording and transcription feature — which has come standard on Galaxy phones in Korea for more than a decade and drove many businesspeople towards Samsung — supports English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese and Portuguese, but not Korean.

Samsung has also made several pushes to one-up Apple over the past few years. It has touted a suite of unique AI features known as "Galaxy AI." It's made strides in reparability, an area where Apple is famously weak. And its latest flagship, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, came equipped with four different cameras — totaling one more physical camera and many more megapixels than the iPhone 15 line, and solidifying it as a go-to device for K-pop fans hoping to capture their favorite idols.

But Apple does dominate in one category in Korea: continuity. And for young people around the world, Koreans included, continuity is paramount.

Apple is known for the seamless integration between its products, whether they be Mac computers, Apple Watches, iPads or even the Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which has yet to roll out in Korea. Copy a text on an iPhone and paste it to a Mac nearby — such features just "work." Samsung and Google have attempted to create similar ecosystems, but none have proven as smooth, reliable or long-lasting.

Such tight feature integration incentivizes Korean users around the world to buy more Apple-made products over Samsung or Google for that added value of convenience. AirDrop, for example, which allows users to wirelessly transfer files between Apple devices, is widely used across the nation.

Apple is known for the seamless integration between its products, whether they be Mac computers, Apple Watches, iPads or even the Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which has yet to roll out in Korea. Copy a text on an iPhone and paste it to a Mac nearby ? such features just ″work.″ [SCREEN CAPTURE

"Apple has done a really good job of making sure that Apple products work best with other Apple products," Johnson said. "Since they control both the hardware and software I think they do have certain advantages in making sure things operate smoothly."

Some 48 percent of Koreans younger than 20 prefer Apple's laptops, according to a survey conducted by online price comparison website Danawa and Open Survey in 2023, while those in their 20s and 30s overwhelmingly prefer competitors from LG and Samsung. And it's not hard to see why: Mac desktops and laptops have been unpopular in Korea for decades due to the incompatibility of Korean websites, online banking services and work-related programs with macOS. Such issues bother young Koreans less: They tend to bank and browse the web through mobile apps, and they are less impacted by legacy applications, which are more widespread among traditional office workers.

And then there's the iPad, which is ubiquitous among students around the world — Korea included — due to its affordable price and ease of notetaking.

"Many Korean middle and high school students are already using iPads to study, watch online lectures and take notes," Professor Kim Ji-hern, who specializes in brand psychology at Sejong University, told the Korea JoongAng Daily. "They are already used to the UI [user interface] of Apple devices, which then is reflected by the high preference for iPhones among young Koreans."

Those software benefits don't just offer convenience to Korea's young people: They offer an element of status that Samsung, despite churning out competitors to Apple's services, hasn't been able to replicate.

“Apple’s strong security features provide an image of someone who knows how to take care of themselves," Professor Kim said. "Using AirDrop might convey that you are someone who is social."

Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 5 [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Can Samsung flip the tide?

If there's one phone that might help Samsung woo young Koreans again, it's the Galaxy Z Flip.

First released in February 2020 as Samsung’s second foldable smartphone lineup after Galaxy Z Fold, the Galaxy Z Flip quickly became one of the most popular foldable smartphones in the world with its new and fresh form factor, alongside its compact size, appealing design and relatively low price.

The Z Flip has an important task ahead of it: To make Samsung — and, in particular, its flip phones — cool again. It aimed to bring the form factor from an old-fashioned design that “you hide out of shame” back to an eye-catching way to receive and end calls, according to Professor Kwak.

The Galaxy Flip’s unique design and color scheme also resurrected the lost trend of customizing phones that peaked in the early 2000s, allowing millennials to revisit the time of their childhood and Gen Z to sport a retro vibe.

The popularity of Galaxy Flip increased dramatically with its third iteration, Z Flip 3, which featured a larger and more practical front display followed by a more luxurious design.

Lee Hye-won, a Korea University graduate who has used iPhones for many years, recently saw an online post in which a user had designed their Flip with Korea's popular "joke bear" character and a moving wallpaper. That customizability "eventually tipped me over to choosing Samsung," Lee, who now owns a Galaxy Z Flip 5, told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

The convenience of Samsung Pay and the Galaxy's support of the 10-key Hangul Chunjiin keyboard factored into Lee's decision as well.

“The Galaxy Z Flip series is popular among the younger generation, who value self-expression,” a Samsung Electronics spokesperson told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

“We hope to continually improve its foldable form factor.”

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]

korea joongAng daily

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[WHY] Korea is Samsung's turf. Why do its young people love iPhones?

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