Samsung Might Launch Galaxy S5 In South Korea Earlier To Avoid Carrier Ban

This year Samsung has lined up the biggest simultaneous launch for its new flagship. Samsung Galaxy S5 is going to be launched in more than 100 countries on April 11th. The first week is always crucial for the company as it looks to sell as many units as it possibly can, launch week sales figures make good publicity. But the company faces a dilemma on its home turf, it may not be able to sell Galaxy S5 in Korea until May 19th.

That’s because regulators in South Korea have slapped the country’s mobile carriers with a 45 day ban. During the ban, carriers can’t enroll new customers, sell devices or even upgrade phones for existing subscribers. The ban has been imposed due to carriers subsidizing phone costs more than they were allowed to. SK Telecom, the country’s largest carrier, serves the ban between April 5th and May 19th. So if Samsung launches the Galaxy S5 in South Korea on April 11th, the carrier won’t be able to sell it.

A source tells The Korean Herald that Samsung might launch Galaxy S5 a bit earlier than expected on home turf. The sole reason for this would be to avoid the ban. Its believed that the Galaxy S5 will be launched on March 27th, and with less than two days to go, it’s unlikely that the company will be able to come up with a full-fledged launch event.

Even if its not able to pull out all the stops, at least Samsung will have over a week to sell the Galaxy S5 in South Korea before the ban is put in place. The first week often sees the most sales, so it would only serve the company’s interest to tap into that initial rush. No official confirmation from Samsung has been received on this as yet.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Galaxy S5, Samsung