Apparent supply shortage affects Galaxy S8 registration

All News 09:31 April 20, 2017

SEOUL, April 20 (Yonhap) -- The number of Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy S8 smartphones registered to mobile carriers in South Korea slowed, industry sources said Thursday, apparently due to a shortage in supply following record-breaking preorders.

The distribution of Galaxy S8 smartphones began earlier in the week ahead of the official release slated for Friday.

On Tuesday, the first day of its preliminary release, Samsung said around 260,000 units of Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus smartphones were registered with the country's three mobile carriers.

The figure, however, dropped to around 60,000 units on Wednesday. Preorders for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus, which ran from April 7-17, surpassed the 1 million unit mark, setting a new record among all of the company's smartphones so far.

"The registration is being delayed as some of the preorder customers did not receive their top-of-the-line 6GB RAM Galaxy S8 Plus smartphones with 128GB of memory," an official from a local mobile carrier said.

Another industry watcher said Samsung may face hurdles in meeting the 500,000 units of Galaxy S8 smartphones being registered with mobile carriers.

The South Korean tech giant showcased the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus last month, with official sales of the device kicking off in South Korea and the United States on Friday.

The devices feature high-resolution displays that bend on both sides and come with various innovative technologies, such as iris and face recognition scanners, and a smart voice assistance program named Bixby.