[파이낸셜뉴스] For the first time ever, Korea has been included among the first launch countries of Apple’s new iPhone “iPhone 16”.
According to the telecommunications industry, on the 9th, Apple included Korea among the first launch countries of the “iPhone 16”, scheduled for September, and informed domestic telecommunications companies of the relevant information.
This is an unusual response from the industry.
Apple never included Korea as one of the first countries to release the iPhone. For this reason he was criticized for treating Korea badly.
Domestic consumers had to wait about a month to purchase new products compared to the countries where they were first released.
The iPhone 15 was also launched in Korea in October last year, but has been selling in early launch countries like China, Australia and the UK since September, a month ago.
The selling price is also expensive compared to other countries. The iPhone 15 128GB base model price is $799 in the US. Applying the closing won/dollar exchange rate of 1,329.5 won per dollar in the Seoul currency market at that time, it was 1,062,000 won (excluding taxes), but the Korean selling price was 1,250,000 won, or 17.8% more.
The price of the iPhone 15 in Japan is 124,800 yen, or 1,125,000 won, which is cheaper than in Korea by applying the exchange rate, and in China it is 5,999 yuan, or only 1,090,000 won. The difference compared to the Korean selling price is around 100,000-200,000 won.
It is analyzed that the reason why Apple included Korea among the first launch countries this time is to reflect younger generations’ preference for the iPhone and respond to the popularity of Samsung Electronics’ first AI smartphone, the Galaxy S24.
Recently, Apple has slowed down in sales and market share globally, including China, but is still popular in Korea. The iPhone 15, introduced last year, had its highest sales ever in Korea.
In particular, it was found that 8 out of 10 iPhone 15 buyers were between 20 and 30 years old.
According to MacRumors, an Apple media outlet, the iPhone 16 has cameras arranged vertically and includes two separate rings for wide-angle and ultra-wide cameras.
Additionally, Apple’s upcoming operating system, “IOS 18,” will feature major upgrades to artificial intelligence (AI) features, and the iPhone 16, which reflects this, is expected to be Apple’s first AI phone.
moon@fnnews.com Reporter Moon Young-jin
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