According to at least one Korean carrier, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is proving more popular with pre-order customers than the Galaxy S9 series did earlier this year.
The word comes via Korean publication, The Investor, which says that, according to a spokesperson for the South Korean network, Galaxy Note 9 pre-orders numbers are between 30% and 50% higher than the Galaxy S9 series pre-order figures. That's quite a wide bracket, of course, so we're a bit curious about what kind of data is producing it - it seems very rough and approximate.
It's not outperforming the Galaxy Note 8 from 2017 just yet though, it's currently at about 20% lower demand than last year's model was around the same stage in the launch/release process.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Pre-Orders
Of course, the other thing to bear in mind is that this hike in interest from the Galaxy S9 series is specific to South Korea in this instance; we don't yet know how other markets have taken to the Galaxy Note 9.
Asian markets, and Samsung's home nation of South Korea in particular, are very fond of larger phablet phones, which could go some way to the Galaxy Note 9 outperforming the Galaxy S flagship.
On top of that, Samsung's consumer base has a massive amount of Samsung loyalty you don't really see anywhere else.
In other words, it's no real indicator of what's going on elsewhere in the world vis-a-vis Galaxy Note 9 sales. Many industry observers have said the Galaxy Note 9, like the Galaxy S9 series and the iPhone X, may have been priced too high to appeal to the kind of mass numbers we saw flagships sell in through previous years. The prices have gradually crept up over time, and so too the pre-orders and overall sales have declined.
There's still plenty of innovation in the space, but people seemingly aren't prepared to pay as much as you might typically spend on a decent laptop for a smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 512GB In Blue More Popular
According to a follow-up report by The Investor, Korean network SK Telecom - the country's largest carrier - reports that pre-order customers prefer the more expensive, higher capacity 512GB storage option over any other model. This edition also has more RAM, with 8GB compared to the 6GB found on the 128GB storage model.
Despite the 128GB version being 20% cheaper in South Korea, more than half the pre-orders went to the 512GB version. The carrier also added the blue colour version with a yellow S-Pen has proven more popular than the purple, copper, or black editions.
