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Samsung blames ‘dismal’ initial Galaxy S20 sales on coronavirus fears

Samsung’s Galaxy S20 series doesn’t officially go on sale in the US until next Friday, but the device is already hitting the market in Samsung’s home country of Korea. However, initial sales of the Galaxy S20 are described as “dismal,” with Samsung blaming factors outside of its control.

Reports out of Korea today (via SamMobile) reveal that initial sales of the Galaxy S20 are much lower than previous devices. Apparently, Samsung sold 70,800 units on day one, lagging well behind past launches. The Galaxy S10 managed to sell 140,000 units on its first day, beat out even further by the Note 10 which managed 220,000.

Yikes.

However, this isn’t because the Galaxy S20 is expensive or because fans aren’t excited about it. Rather, Samsung blames fears over the coronavirus outbreak for keeping people from going out to buy the device. A telecom official told the Korea Herald that the “sharp decline” of “visitors to offline stores due to coronavirus infection fears” had a lot to do with the lower sales figures. On top of that, though, he mentioned fewer discounts also contributed to the lower figures.

In South Korea, coronavirus is certainly a valid concern right now. As of today, there were over 250 new confirmed cases of the virus in the country with over 2,000 people infected in the country in total. That’s a pretty big jump in the month since the first case was documented in the country.

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