Preorders for Samsung's Galaxy Note 10 hit 1.3 mln units in S. Korea

On Aug. 9,the country's three mobile carriers -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG UplusCorp. -- began taking preorders for the tech giant's latest smartphone, whichwill officially hit the local market Friday, Yonhap reports.

The totalnumber of preorders for the Galaxy Note 10 reached 1.3 million units, more thantwofold the preorder number for the Galaxy Note 9, according to Samsung.

The Note 10is Samsung's premium large-screen smartphone that comes with a stylus S-Pen,whose price tag is 1.2 million won (US$1,025) for a 6.3-inch display and 1.5million won for a souped-up 6.8-inch screen.

The Note 10will be Samsung's second 5G phone launched at home following the Galaxy S 105G, its flagship smartphone released in April in time for the commercial rollout of the ultrafast network in the nation.

The Note 10features a hole-punch selfie camera to minimize the bezel on the screen andditches the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack for the first time. Instead, itoffers a USB-C dongle.

Thestandard model has three cameras on the back, and the plus model has anadditional camera.

Samsung's5G-only strategy in the domestic market comes as the world's largest handsetmaker is looking for ways to expand sales of premium phones to improve profitsof its sluggish mobile division.

South Koreais a leading 5G market with over 2 million subscribers in four months of thenetwork's launch, as local carriers have been aggressively promoting 5G mobileplans to lure customers in the early stage.