April 19, 2024

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The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra makes up more than half of total sales of the flagship model over the six weeks since its launch on Feb. 25. (Samsung Electronics)

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday its latest smartphone, the Galaxy S22, is highly likely to see 1 million unit sales at home this week, labeling its sales performance a “smooth ride” despite unfavorable market conditions such as supply chain constraints and slowing domestic smartphone sales.

According to the company’s preliminary estimates, the phone’s sales exceeded 900,000 units early this month, and the figure is expected to hit the 1 million mark on Friday, six weeks after its official launch on Feb. 25.

The initial six-week sales figure is the third-largest for an S series phone, following the S2 in 2011 and S8 in 2017. It is also the highest since 2019.

“Considering the nation’s smartphone market’s slowing growth, the S22 series is on a smooth ride as it has maintained initial sales momentum since its launch,” Samsung said in a statement.

The company projected domestic demand for smartphones to remain at 3.5 million units in the first three months of this year, down over 10 percent from some 4 million units a year ago.

Of the three new models, the largest and highest-priced S22 Ultra, equipped with the signature stylus S Pen, made up more than half of total sales, while the S22 Plus and S22 each made up about 20 percent of sales.

Samsung said the phone’s sales outside Korea have also grown more than 20 percent compared to the previous model. Most markets posted a growth in sales, with some recording a whopping 70 percent increase, it added.

Samsung touting the S22’s sales comes after the phone suffered backlash over its controversial Game Optimizing Service app that limited the phone’s performance while running popular data-heavy apps.

Although Samsung issued a public apology and carried out software updates to fix the problem, concerns were growing that the scandal could affect the brand’s reputation and phone sales.

Industry watchers say increased subsidies offered by local telecom carriers have also played a role in driving phone sales. Over the past weeks, subsidies for the Ultra model almost tripled to 500,000 won ($412).

In the meantime, Samsung is expected to announce its first-quarter earnings estimates Thursday. Based on consensus estimates collected among securities firms, the tech giant is estimated to record 75.21 trillion won in sales and 13.89 trillion won in operating profits.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)