Samsung Has Reportedly Sold Over 5 Million Galaxy S8 Units

An unnamed Samsung official has been quoted as saying that the company has already sold over 5 million units of the Galaxy S8 since it was released back in April. Analysts believe that the South Korean phone maker might be able to sell 20 million units by the end of Q2 2017.

“Although we cannot provide detailed figures, the sales are going smoothly around the globe,” the unnamed Samsung official told The Investor. “The combined sales already are beyond 5 million units.”

The Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus were first released in the United States and Canada on April 21. Since then, sales have expanded to other regions including India and parts of Europe. The handset has only been on the market for 25 days, which could mean that it might beat the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge’s record from last year. It was reported recently that Samsung was able to sell 7.2 units of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge during the first quarter of 2016, accoridng to Mashable.

“The number of Galaxy S8 sold so far is about 20%-30% more than that of the Galaxy S7,” another Samsung official said (translated from Korean). Although the company has already sold 5 million units, Samsung actually shipped around 10 million units signifying the high demand for the device.

Samsung did say last month that the Galaxy S8 and the S8 Plus had the most successful pre-sale period in the company’s history. “The market has responded -- with a more than 30 percent year-over-year growth in preorders versus the record preorders we had with Galaxy S7, making it our best ever,” Samsung Electronics America COO Tim Baxter said.

Samsung is expected to release the Galaxy S8 to around 120 countries, including China, by the end of May. This should accelerate sales even further.

For comparison, Samsung was able to sell 2.5 million units of the Galaxy Note 7 during its first two weeks before the recall. The company was also able to sell 10 million units of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge during its first three weeks of availability.

Samsung was eventually able to sell 55 million units of the S7 and S7 Edge by April 2017. The company was able to do this by heavily marketing the products after the Note 7 disaster. Samsung was also able to sell 10 million units of the Galaxy S6 during its first month of availability.

Just based on those numbers, it might look like the Galaxy S8 sales are moving slower. This is because the S7 and S6 were more widely available upon their initial release, accoridng to Android Authority. The Galaxy S8 should be able to catch up and eventually surpass the numbers of the S7 once it reaches more countries.

Analysts believe that Samsung will be able to sell 20 million units of the Galaxy S8 by the end of the second quarter. These industry watchers are rather optimistic with Samsung as they also estimate that annual sales for the Galaxy S8 could be between 50 million and 60 million units.