iPhone 7 to land in Korea on Oct. 21

iPhone 7 to land in Korea on Oct. 21. October. 04, 2016 07:11. by 서동일기자 dong@donga.com. Apple’s iPhone 7 (picture) is set to land in South Korea on October 21. The country’s three major telecom carriers -- SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+ -- confirmed that Apple Korea has scheduled the launch date and is waiting for final call from Apple’s headquarters. The series has been sold in the first group of nations, including the United States, the Great Britain, and China, since Sept. 16.

“The iPhone 7 smartphones will be available to consumers through the Apple Korea webpage and the dealerships of the carriers from Oct. 21 as soon as the Apple headquarters gives us a final confirmation,” said a staff at one of the communications companies.

Apple's new series is water-resistant up to 30 minutes at a meter depth, the first of its series to be equipped with the feature. The rear camera features 12 megapixels, the same number of pixels with the previous series, but has applied a dual camera system. The storage options have doubled to 32, 128, and 256 GB. The market price of iPhone 7 with 32GB storage remains the same as the earlier ones in the U.S. at 649 dollars, and 769 dollars for the 7 plus, but the prices are yet to be determined in the Korean market.

The initial number of sales of the 7 series has exceeded the prior ones, but the newly added Z Black models are being criticized for their vulnerabilities for scratch and relatively weaker water- and shock – resistance.

“Some still say ‘Apple’s different,' but the ruling opinion is that Apple’s loyal consumers are much less powerful in most places around the world other than its hometown America,” said an industry expert. “We have to wait and see how successful the 7 series will be in Korea, which has quite a fair number of loyal consumers.”

With the launch of the new iPhone, the premium smartphone market will likely see fiercer competition. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, of which its sales had been stalled after a number of battery explosion cases, has resumed its sales on Saturday, and LG’s new flagship model V20 is seeking the top spot with its outstanding audio and camera features. The Note 7 series recorded more than 30,000 in the number of sales on the first weekend since its return, showing chances of a successful revival. After its sales from Wednesday, LG’s V20 is also being sold at a pace of 5,000 per day.