November 25, 2024

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Samsung set up Galaxy Studio, a hands-on experience zone, in Times Square mall in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on Jan. 18. (Samsung Electronics)

Samsung Electronics’ latest Galaxy S24 series, touted as its first artificial intelligence smartphone, broke the company’s presales record in Korea, selling 1.21 million units in just a week.

After the global Unpacked event in San Jose, California on Jan. 17, Samsung carried out a presales event for the latest Galaxy S24 series from Jan. 19 to 25 in Korea. During the weeklong event, the smartphone maker sold 173,000 units per day on average.

The latest presale record not only surpassed the previous one held by the Galaxy S23 series of 1.09 million units during its presale week, but also all of the Galaxy smartphones, according to Samsung.

Samsung launched its latest smartphone series as its first AI-powered smartphone with functions such as real-time translation, an enhanced camera with advanced zoom and smarter imaging editing.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra was the most popular model in the series, accounting for about 60 percent of the total units sold. The Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 followed with 21 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

For the Galaxy S24 Ultra model, titanium black color was the most favored choice, while marvel gray was popular for both the Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24. Exclusive colors titanium blue and sapphire blue, only available on Samsung’s online show and Samsung Gangnam store, also attracted interest from consumers.

The real-time translation feature uses Samsung's Galaxy AI model and supports 13 languages for language-related functions including Live Translate, Chat Assist and Note Assist.

The tech giant also teamed up with Google to introduce the Circle to Search feature for the first time in its Galaxy S24 series. Circle to Search allows the user to look up any image, video or text on their screen without switching between different apps to use Google's search engine.

Samsung also introduced ProVisual Engine, which the company's visual solution chief touted as the "ultimate collection of Samsung's AI features for camera."

For the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the smartphone maker used Corning Gorilla Armor, a glass exclusively developed for the model for greater durability and visual clarity by Corning, a global glass maker.

The global official release date for the Galaxy S24 series is scheduled for Jan. 31.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)