Will the Galaxy S10 Glory Return... S22 Pre-Orders Soar

Sold Out on First Day of Self-Supply Phone Reservations
Up to 4 Times More Than Before Pre-Notification Sign-Ups
IT Tipster: "Early Sales Surpass All Previous S and Note Models"

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Until now, the Galaxy S series' best-selling models have been the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S10. However, with the Galaxy S22 series showing promising signs during the pre-order period, attention is focused on whether it will succeed in reversing sales performance.

According to industry sources on the 21st, the S22 pre-order period, which started on the 14th and lasted for 8 days, ends today. On the first day of pre-orders, the 14th, most unlocked S22 phones sold out on Samsung Electronics' official website as well as online malls such as Coupang, SSG.com, and WEMAKEPRICE. 11st conducted a live broadcast for 2 hours, recording total sales of 13.2 billion KRW. Unlocked products have high early pre-order demand, especially among the MZ generation who want to use budget phone (MVNO) plans.

The three major telecom companies also reported that the number of pre-order notification requests increased up to four times compared to the S21. A telecom industry official said, "Among the three models, the most popular is the Galaxy S22 Ultra, accounting for 60-70%." SK Telecom accounted for 70%, KT 60%, and LG Uplus 53%. KT's pre-order demand was similar to that of the iPhone 13.

IT tipsters are also paying attention to the S22 craze. TheGalox tweeted on the same day, "The early sales volume of the S22 series is surpassing all previous S and Note series," adding, "If this sales trend continues for several months, it could surpass bestsellers like the S8 and S10 to become Samsung's best-selling smartphone."

Samsung Electronics is betting big on the S22 this year. Until last year, the S20 and S21 series consecutively posted disappointing results, lowering expectations. According to global market research firm Counterpoint Research, the S21 series sold 13.5 million units in the six months following its January release. This is 20% less than the 17 million units sold by its predecessor, the S20 series, and 47% less compared to the 2019 S10. The gap is even larger when compared to the Galaxy S7, considered the most successful Galaxy S series model with estimated sales of over 50 million units. Since then, the S10 series sold around 37 to 40 million units but has not shown significant performance.

As Samsung continues to compete with Apple in the premium smartphone market, the importance of the S series has grown. Samsung recorded the highest global smartphone sales last year, but the gap with Apple is only 3 percentage points. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics (SA), Samsung's smartphone sales reached 272 million units (20% market share), just 3.1 percentage points ahead of Apple (16.9%).