High Demand for New Samsung Smartphones in South Korea

Samsung's latest foldable smartphones faced shortages in South Korea right from the start of official sales. According to Business Post, buyers are purchasing the new devices even faster than the manufacturer can supply them, causing serious queues in the market. This is reported by Ixbt.com reports .

It has been revealed that pre-orders for most configurations of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 smartphone are already fully sold out. For buyers who were originally supposed to receive the device on August 7, delivery times have been postponed until August 28. Currently, those who ordered after the first wave have to wait an additional up to three weeks depending on the required storage capacity and color options.

Delivery delays

The resulting shortage affected not only the base model but the entire new lineup of devices. In particular, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra variant with 1 TB of storage will also only begin shipping by Samsung starting August 28. Additionally, waiting times for Galaxy Z Flip 8 models have been moved to August 11 or August 18 depending on the chosen color.

The issue is not limited to Samsung's official online store. Some physical retail points and stores in Korea are scheduling the acceptance of new orders even into mid-September. Commenting on the situation, company representatives cited demand being significantly higher than forecasted figures as the reason.

Record interest and prospects

According to Business Post data, Samsung had planned the production volume of the standard Galaxy Z Fold 8 to be about 40 percent higher compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra during the manufacturing process. However, the pre-prepared stocks were not enough to cover the growing demand. According to preliminary assessments, the volume of orders for the new device recorded a result nearly three times higher than that of the previous generation, the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

Interestingly, interest in foldable gadgets has already reached about 80 percent of the initial order levels of the traditional Galaxy S26 series. So far, Samsung has not disclosed official figures regarding global sales volumes and the total number of orders. Nevertheless, the situation in the company's home market clearly demonstrates that trust and interest in foldable smartphone technology are growing steadily.