Following its MWC debut in late-February, the time has come for the LG G5 to officially go on sale in numerous parts of the world, including in the US where local carrier AT&T offers the device on a 30-month agreement or unlocked for the price of $688.99. In the company’s homeland, however, the LG G5 has been available for purchase for more than 24 hours, and now the first reports concerning the smartphone’s market performance are beginning to emerge. Reportedly, the LG G5 in South Korea has enjoyed a lot of success in the first 24 hours of availability, with first-day sales reaching 15,000 units.
LG’s smartphone business isn’t at its peak, and last year the company’s mobile branch recorded operating losses of roughly $37.3 million in Q4. 2015 has been a tough year for many smartphone makers, but fortunately for LG, its latest flagship phone seems to have the potential of mitigating some of the losses. The LG G5 was released in South Korea on Thursday, March 31, and despite its slightly higher price tag of $729 compared to its predecessor – which was priced at $707 – the latest flagship managed to exceed the company’s expectations, as more than 15,000 customers in South Korea have purchased the device on the first day of availability. In contrast, last year only 5,000 LG G4 units have been sold in the first 24 hours, even though, at that time, the G4 was less expensive than the Samsung Galaxy S6 and didn’t face as strong of an opposition from the aforementioned rival, compared to the new Samsung Galaxy S7. It’s also worth noting that LG may have been able to sell more than 15,000 units, but network issues experienced by the country’s second largest mobile carrier – KT Corporation – on launch day led to the delay of 1,000-2,000 purchases.
Amid the strong market performance early on, industry sources claim that LG is now operating its facilities 24-hours in order to meet the high demand. Furthermore, market analysts predict that LG G5 global sales will top 10 million units. This might not sound like a lot given the expectations surrounding the sales performance of the Samsung Galaxy S7 series, but it’s definitely a step up for LG and in light of these events, the modular LG G5 could help the company in stabilizing its market position.