Pre-orders for Note 8 highest

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

Samsung is banking on the device to protect its market dominance as it competes with Apple Inc’s latest iPhones due to be unveiled later yesterday. Note 8 sales begin in the United States, South Korea and elsewhere on Friday.

Pre-orders reached about 650,000 Note 8 handsets over five days from about 40 countries, making the initial response “very encouraging,” DJ Koh, president of Samsung Electronics’ mobile communications business, said at a media event.

The device succeeds the shortlived 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.

The Note 8’s U.S. price of US$930 (RM3,910) to US$960, including dialling and data plans, begins an era of premium-priced handsets which analysts expect to be joined by US$1,000-plus iPhones. – Reuters