Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Pre-Orders Highest Among Note Series

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s Galaxy Note 8 premium smartphone pre-orders have hit the highest-ever for the Note series, beating its predecessor Note 7 over five days by about 2.5 times.

The Korean tech giant said pre-orders of its latest flagship smartphone Galaxy Note 8 were exceeding its expectations, as the South Korean company seeks to move beyond last year’s safety debacle and braces for the latest iPhone debut later on Tuesday.  Note 8 sales will begin in the United States, South Korea and elsewhere on Friday.

DJ Koh, president of Samsung’s mobile business, said the Note 8 phones had recorded the highest pre-orders among the Note series, which would help Samsung better compete with Apple in the high-end smartphone sector. 

Pre-orders reached about 650,000 Note 8 handsets over five days from about 40 countries, making the initial reaction “very encouraging,” Koh said at a media event.

“The 395,000 units sold on the first day of pre-orders are a higher-than-expected figure,” he told a media event on Tuesday. “The figures for the first five days show that pre-orders [for the Note 8] are about 2.5 times those of the Note 7 last year.” 

The device succeeds the short-lived Note 7, whose battery fires resulted in Samsung pulling the device from the market after just a couple of months at a cost of billions of dollars.

Its reputation stained, the world’s biggest smartphone maker by market share nevertheless decided to retain the Note brand after a survey showed 85 percent of 5,000 Galaxy Note users expressed brand loyalty, Koh said.

The Note 8, priced at $930-$960 in the US, including dialling and data plans, will begin an era of premium-priced handsets, which analysts expect to be joined by $1,000-plus iPhones and intensify competition for pricier components in the premium segment.

Apple is set to reveal its much anticipated 10th-anniversary iPhone on Tuesday in the US, the first iPhone that will cost as much as $1,000, and is expected to offer significant upgrades to the smartphone’s display, camera and overall design.