Samsung claims to have sold 5 million units of its latest flagship smartphones, Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The smartphone was announced on March 29 and preorders broke all records for Samsung in South Korea and the United States. The handset went on sale in select markets on April 21 and is gradually being rolled out to more regions around the globe.
"Although we cannot provide detailed figures, the sales are going smoothly around the globe," a company official told The Investor. "The combined sales already are beyond 5 million units."
Samsung says it aims to make its Galaxy S8 series available in 120 countries including China by the end of this month. Ahead of the launch in the counrty, most trade analysts predicted that Samsung will ship 20 million Galaxy S8 smartphones by the end of the second quarter. Sales of Galaxy S8 is expected to hit 60 million units by the end of this year.
To recall, Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are the first flagship devices from the South Korean smartphone maker since the Galaxy Note7 debacle. The handsets feature a new Infinity Display design with a larger display and thin bezels. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ sport 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED displays with dual-curved edges and support for HDR 10 standard. The handset is powered either by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 or company's own Exynos 8895 processor depending upon markets. It comes standard with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage but markets like South Korea and China also get a 6GB RAM option. With the Galaxy S8 series, Samsung has improved the front camera with an 8MP sensor, while the 12MP rear camera is almost identical to last year's Galaxy S7.
The Galaxy S8 series run Android 7.0 Nougat and come with the company's new Bixby AI assistant, which can be activated with the help of a dedicated button. It also offers a iris scanner, face detection, fingerprint scanner, Samsung Pay and IP68 water/dust resistance. The Galaxy S8 is backed by a 3000mAh battery, while the Galaxy S8+ gets a larger 3500mAh battery. Both the handsets support wireless charging and fast charging.