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Samsung’s pink gold Note 5 & price drops don’t stop iPhone 6s from selling out in S. Korea

Korea might be home base for Samsung (and LG), Apple’s biggest competitor in the smartphone world, but the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have been well received in the country as local reports indicate all major carriers have sold out of both models after officially launching in the country earlier today..

Yonhap News Agency reports that all three major carriers in the region including SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Inc have sold out of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus after they began accepting preorders yesterday ahead of an official launch. The device officially went on sale in the country today following Apple’s second wave of launch countries earlier this month.

KT said preorders surpassed 10,000 within the first one minute after it opened the online site, and it closed the applications less than 10 minutes later as the first 50,000 units set aside for preorders were all sold out… KT began its second round of online purchase reservations from 10:30 a.m., the company said, adding that it’s also selling them at offline stores.

Samsung and LG notably dropped prices on their flagship devices ahead of Apple’s planned launch of the iPhone 6s this month in South Korea, and Samsung late last week announced a new pink gold color for the Galaxy Note 5, a move thought to be an attempt to combat sales of Apple’s new similarly colored iPhone 6s.

Earlier this month Apple launched its new iPhone lineup in 40+ countries following its initial launch in September. The company plans to have the device available in 130 countries in total by the end of the year.

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Comments

  1. lordrootman - 9 years ago

    Don’t worry samstink make your self 3D Touch phones

  2. 89p13 - 9 years ago

    Smart People will not be fooled by look-a-like Samesung phones, even at a lower price. People want the Quality and Eco-System that Apple offers.

    People are seeing through the crap Samesung is pushing.

    • iali87 - 9 years ago

      Eco-system? yes. Quality? I have to say no. You need to look at the note 5 and then talks about quality.

      • viciosodiego - 9 years ago

        I think he means That apple offers better Service and support.
        And iPhones in general have better Quality.

      • DSP (@dsp2go) - 9 years ago

        You can’t deny Apple have products with great quality though. The 6s is a well built phone.

      • Prasad Velkuri - 9 years ago

        I have read reports – new iPhones are stronger than Note, Also read reviews Note5 TouchWiz lags in app switching and some other areas.

      • smartysanky - 9 years ago

        Lets assume that Note 5’s build quality is as good as iPhone’s. Their display is on steroids but is good or even better as some may argue. Their camera too is good, as it should be for a flagship.
        But what would you say of the OS and overall performance?
        The updates come months later, even to the flagships.
        Their software adds another level of mess to the already messy interface.
        Their values decrease faster than any other device, can’t get a good price when selling them.
        Cant easily change carriers.
        Over-all, if am going to buy a flagship, I’ll actually need a thing that just works anytime, anywhere.

      • sissypo2 - 9 years ago

        Support maybe
        Quality, hands down samsung takes with the new note5, s6, and s6+

    • sissypo2 - 9 years ago

      Shows how smart icrap fans are , they can’t see the crap Apple is feeding them.

      • viciosodiego - 9 years ago

        shows how smart you are believing everyone is a fanboy.

  3. shareef777 - 9 years ago

    Is this grade school? I don’t like them so I’m going to make fun of their name. It’s Samsung. You only make yourself look idiotic when spelling it any other way.

    • PMZanetti - 9 years ago

      Have you seen what this company does? Shamescum is the title they deserve.

      • shareef777 - 9 years ago

        Apple’s business practice is no different. They just have better engineers and make better products. The corporations are both the same. They’re in it to make money. Jeez, some of you think Apple was a gift from god or something.

    • Prasad Velkuri - 9 years ago

      As if you have not changed your name to anything else other than Shareef…haha Shareef777?

      • shareef777 - 9 years ago

        Ugh, that’s because the original was already taken, and I’m given MYSELF a name. Not the same.

  4. charismatron - 9 years ago

    Pink is the new money.

    • Shan - 9 years ago

      a 64GB iPhone 6s is sold for $749 in the US, that’s INR 48,685 using current exchange rate. If apple is selling it for INR 72,000 then that’s too steep. Anyone would think twice before buying it. There aren’t any subsidies in India (or in other countries for that matter).

      • Shan - 9 years ago

        That’s like $1108…. no one would buy it.

      • Well it’s $974 in Europe with taxes so I’m not surprised it’s more in India since that country… you know…

  5. What’s the point of making your phones cheaper? It just decreases their mental value and shows to people that those phones are not worth it. As I always said from the Samsung’s beginning with their phones: It’ll only take some time until people will realise their devices are not worth it and they’ll see a decline. It’s already here as we can see plus as we saw in past news with the data.

  6. Tuvatech - 9 years ago

    I do NOT get Samsung. What on Earth are they thinking? Sure, they have always copied Apple, but this past few years have been absolutely unbelievable. It seems that they are no longer even trying to hide the fact that iPhone is their main source of inspiration. It’s getting outright embarrassing.

    I remember seeing an ad a while back (before the launch of 6S) that went something like this: ”Don’t buy the iPhone 6, get the S6.” It seems that the only thought those Samsung guys have these days is ”how can we confuse the customers so that they would accidentally buy our phone when they wanted to buy an iPhone?”

    • GLOCKMAMA - 9 years ago

      First off Samsung hasn’t copied Apple. Apple sued over everything including rectangle phone with rounded edges, which every OEM has. It’s stupid! But if you are actually stating that someone who wanted an iPhone can be so easily confused by marketing wording in one sentence as you just stated, then it really doesn’t matter what you end up buying. You’ve proven the lack of intelligence, in a swayed purchase by “confusion”, that only further proves any smartphone is to smart for you.

      • viciosodiego - 9 years ago

        3d touch for galaxy s7

      • viciosodiego - 9 years ago

        No sd card and the battery can’t be removed.
        sorry samsung but you lost a lot of customers with that sh*t.
        The note 5 is not a pro phone any more.

      • jon187 - 9 years ago

        Have you looked at the latest flagships? The S6 does not have much originality to it.
        The speaker holes: Introduced with the iPhone 5C, 2 years prior to samsung moving to large holes like they did. It can even be considered a replica of the iPhone 6 speaker holes.
        Glass back: Introduced with the iPhone 4, shamelessly put onto the S6 and its sibling devices.
        Antenna breaks: iPhone 6 anyone? Instead of going all the way around because of the glass panel, they have the same position as the iPhone 4S, with the shape and size of the iPhone 6 antenna breaks.

        Now I’m not saying the S6 has a bad design. In fact I find the S6 Edge to be a beautiful phone, more so than the iPhone 6/S. But to say that they have not copied Apple is simply denying the truth. What Apple was trying to do when suing Samsung for almost everything that was present on their devices was to show competitors that you can’t simply copy someone’s ideas and get away with it. Obviously the court proved Apple wrong, and today manufacturers don’t even need to hide the fact that they copy each other. HTC A9? Chinese lookalikes? While this may be something expected, its a sad outcome for the market.. Instead of being creative and making a new product that no one has seen, they simply slap their logo onto someone’s idea to make as much profit as they can. Great for business, bad for the consumer.

      • bonaccij (@bonaccij) - 9 years ago

        Glockmama – I’m going to have to disagree with you on this point. What Apple sued over was not “rounded edges” but the fact that the phones looked so identical to the ones they were producing, that their legal team couldn’t tell them apart at a distance. I think there are many ways that a company can create a device with “round edges” that don’t look anything like what another company’s efforts. Case in point – just look at the new HTC phone (the A9) coming out. RIDICULOUS COPYING. In addition, I have witnessed several incidents walking into a Verizon or Sprint store and have overheard (granted – older) customers say, “My son told me to get an iPhone” and the sales assistant showing them a Samsung or LG saying, “This is essentially the same thing. It will do everything the iPhone will do.” or even worse, showing them an Android competitor’s phone and, when asked, “…this is an iPhone right?”, they simply reply “Yep”. So, I think for the MAJORITY of people wanting to buy an iPhone, yes, they would NEVER get confused because they know exactly what they are looking for. It is these fringe cases that always make me angry. Needless to say, in all cases, I interrupted the “sale” and set the customers straight… whatever… rather be called a “fan boy” than let an unsuspecting customer walk out with something they either were told to buy or that they wanted, but weren’t getting.

      • flygliea113 - 9 years ago

        Rose Gold is to apple as Pink Gold is to Samsung…

  7. sugitpupillam - 9 years ago

    IPhones are great for old people and those not talented or savvy enough to customize. However, I do customize heavily and multitask, so I’m Android. I was a samsung person primarily and waited on a Note with a high storage capacity, front facing speakers, and no lag. As they’ve done consistently, samsung screwed it all up with a fragile, decreased storage capacity, really expensive note 5 that also doesn’t have front facing speakers. That’s why I have a nexus 6p pre-ordered and can’t wait to dump my Note 3 and Samsung.

  8. sugitpupillam - 9 years ago

    Sorry, I should have also said good for those who have no real desire to customize as well.

  9. Edison Wrzosek - 9 years ago

    Wow, LOVE to see the brainless Android morons come out in full force, as if scripted, to bash Apple when articles like this come out. The most amusing postings so far? Those have to be denouncing the iPhone 6S quality, and claiming the Note 5 is superior!!! What a load of bullshit!

    How about I dig up the stylus on the Note 5 that can be put in upside down, and then never be removed again, because your precious copy engineers at Samsung don’t even know how to do that right?

    Give me a break and slither back into the holes you came from losers. Android users really are venom of the IT world.

  10. Ronald Sondergaard - 9 years ago

    samsung sort of screwed up the note 5….i just bought a new note, but it was the 4. samsung did changes i did not like with the note 5. one, no removable back to get at battery and sim and memory card. ..number 2, the screen is too close to the edge, how can i use a case properly… number 3, seems like note owners are now taking back seat to edge PLus, and also seems like samsung not longer has the note as top dog…number 4, not titanium or gold colors in the united states,,,what the heck is samsung thinking, don,t they want to sell phones…

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.


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