Theta Android News: Samsung Galaxy S20 sales down by 50% in Korea as compared to the S10 family

Friday, February 28, 2020

Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus in Blue

According to a new report from The Korea Herald, Samsung Galaxy S20 sales are not doing so hot in the company's home turf of South Korea.

Citing "industry sources," the report says that Samsung has only sold 70,800 units of the Galaxy S20 series in South Korea. This is about 50% lower than sales for the Galaxy S10 family last year when Samsung sold 140,000 units in the same time period.

What's more, Samsung Galaxy S20 sales are drastically lower than sales for the Galaxy Note 10 line, which sold 220,000 units in its first week of availability in South Korea.

An official from an unnamed Korean telecom said that "sales were affected by sharp declines in discounts for new phones and the number of visitors to offline stores due to coronavirus infection fears." That first part is more likely to blame than that second part, though.

While coronavirus fears are ramping up exponentially worldwide, the lack of significant discounts from Korean carriers is probably having more of an effect on Samsung Galaxy S20 sales. The lowest-priced model in the Galaxy S20 line is $1,000, even more than the lowest-priced model in the notoriously expensive Galaxy Note line. Without carrier subsidies, those prices might just be too high.

Add in the fact that no one much cares about 5G connectivity yet and the Galaxy S20 line not offering any truly significant upgrades over the Galaxy S10 family, and you have a recipe for low sales. Who knows, maybe the lack of the headphone jack is what's keeping people away.

We'll need to wait and see how Samsung fares with the Galaxy S20 family outside of its native Korea.