Waiting line shrinks from about 100 last year to roughly 70 this year
iPhone Duo, higher prices, Galaxy Z Fold8 among factors cited
iPhone 18 Pro in silver tops pre-order choices among loyal fans
Three carriers roll out AI subscriptions, AirPods Pro 3 and shopping perks
"I got here at 7 a.m. on Thursday," said Lee Young-ju, 32, the first customer in line at the Apple Store in Myeong-dong. "Getting an iPhone on launch day was on my bucket list."
About 70 loyal customers had lined up outside the Myeong-dong Apple Store in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Friday to buy the iPhone 18 series — a mix of local shoppers and foreign tourists visiting Korea. Lee had staked out her spot the previous day and stayed through the night without sleep.
Inside the store, staff greeted customers with repeated cries of "Welcome!" and "Congratulations!" Shoppers turned the new handsets over in their hands, deliberated over cases, and listened to product explanations from employees.
Yet the buzz fell short of previous years, when more than 100 people had gathered for the launch.
Apple officially launched the iPhone 18 series in South Korea on Friday. As in previous years, Korea was included in the first wave of release markets, but enthusiasm was noticeably more muted than last year.
Several factors weighed on demand: the iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable phone in seven years of smartphone releases; higher prices driven by rising costs including memory chips; and competition from Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold8 series.
Pre-order figures compiled by the three major carriers were either on par with, or fell short of, those for the predecessor iPhone 17 series.
Loyal customers, however, remained committed. During the pre-order period, their preference concentrated on the iPhone 18 Pro within the lineup. Silver was the most popular color choice, followed by black, Glacier (sky blue) and burgundy.
For the iPhone 18 Pro Max, black led color preferences, followed by silver, burgundy and Glacier.
South Korea's three major carriers have launched full-scale campaigns to attract iPhone users.
SK Telecom will offer customers who purchase and activate an iPhone 18 series device by Oct. 18 a two-month subscription to Google AI Plus (400 gigabytes) through its T Universe platform, along with a four-month subscription to Tving's ad-supported standard plan.
Google AI Plus is a bundled package that includes usage limits twice as high as the free version of Gemini, an AI image-generation and editing model called Nano Banana, NotebookLM Pro for research and document organization, and 400 gigabytes of Google Drive storage.
KT Corp will run a promotion through the end of this month offering free AirPods Pro 3 — based on a 24-month installment plan, with a 5.9 percent fee applied separately — to customers who sign up for its Choice Double Device plan and select the earbuds as their device option. Customers who activate through KT Direct Shop can receive a combined discount of up to 32 percent, combining the standard 25 percent optional contract discount with an additional 7 percent store-exclusive discount.
LG Uplus will give customers who trade in their current handset at its official online store 50,000 won ($37) in Naver Pay on top of the trade-in value of their used device. Customers who choose the shopping coupon pack will also receive shopping benefits worth up to 180,000 won over two years.
The carrier's "Reward Pass" service allows customers who upgrade to a new iPhone two years after purchasing an iPhone 18 to receive up to 50 percent of the original purchase price back when they return the old device. The monthly fee is 5,000 won. Customers who sign up for the "iPhone Reward Pass Plus Plan 105" or higher by Dec. 31 will receive a full waiver of the monthly fee.
ko@heraldcorp.com
