Samsung Galaxy S8 Release Date: Preorders Reportedly Starting April 7 In South Korea

Samsung confirmed in February that it would launch the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus at a Galaxy Unpacked event on March 29. However, the company is yet to confirm when customers would be able to book and more importantly, get their hands on the devices.

Korean website Etnews reported Wednesday, quoting a senior Samsung official, that the device would go on preorder in South Korea on April 7. It added that the preorder cycle will end on April 17, but the phones will hit the shelves only on April 21. So, if you want to get your hands on an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S8, you might have to wait until April 21.

Read: Galaxy S8 Launching On April 21, Not 28th

The report said that Samsung will hold prelaunch events at the stores of South Korea’s three major carriers on April 18, but will have only select subscribers in attendance. Subscribers can win prizes worth up to 3 million won ($2,645).

The expected date for the global rollout of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus remains April 28, but Samsung’s marketing strategy, based on the report, is clearly aimed at getting more consumers to purchase an S8.

The company is expected to leave no stone unturned for the promotion of Galaxy S8 as the device marks the tech giant's first major smartphone launch since the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.

The company had a turbulent past few months — its profits nosedive in the second quarter of 2016 and its president was recently indicted on bribery charges.

Read: Samsung Still Trying To Make Up For Note 7 Losses

Samsung, therefore, wants its latest device to do well and has endowed the S8 with a slew of new features. The device is expected to come with an edge-to-edge super AMOLED display, an iris scanner, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835/Exynos 8895 process, dual 12-megapixel and 13-megapixel rear cameras, a Bixby artificial intelligence-based voice assistant and a 3,000 mAh battery, which together put it ahead of most smartphones available in the market currently.