Pre-order records topple as new Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus stir up excitement

Why it matters to you

Despite an exploding phone last year and a political scandal this year, Samsung still knows how to get customers excited about new products, as evidenced by the pre-order success of the Samsung Galaxy S8.

Samsung is back, and in record-breaking form.

Despite the alleged involvement of its de facto leader in a wide-reaching political scandal and the abject failure of its last flagship phone, it looks like Samsung still hasn’t lost its mojo when it comes to drumming up excitement from its eager (and decidedly loyal) customers. According to local media reports, pre-orders for both the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the S8 Plus have hit 550,000 in just two days. This represents the highest pre-order volume in South Korean history.

More: Master your Samsung Galaxy S8 with these tips and tricks

The highly anticipated S8 and S8 Plus will be Samsung’s first phones since the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7, which was best known for spontaneously combusting before it was recalled globally. To ensure nothing like that ever happens again, Samsung has taken its time in releasing its new handsets, and it looks like that strategy has paid off. Reports note that the gap left by the Note 7 and Samsung’s supercharged marketing campaign for its newest phones have both contributed to the S8’s popularity.

As it stands, pre-order volume is nearly three times that of the Galaxy Note 7, and 5.5 times that of the Galaxy S7 for the same two-day period. The most popular version in South Korea is currently the Galaxy S8 Plus 128 Gigabyte model, which is the first model in Korea to have a 6GB RAM.

Also breaking records is Samsung’s decision to operate 3,000 pre-sale trial zones in South Korea. So yeah, this is shaping up to be one aggressive push. Pre-orders of the new handset kicked off late last week in South Korea, Canada, and the U.S., and if you’re one of the folks who decided to become an early adopter, you can expect your new phone to arrive on April 17, with official sales slated for April 21.

If all goes according to plan, South Korean analysts predict that the newest Galaxy handsets will help Samsung achieve record profits for the second quarter of 2017.