Apple sells 140,000 units of iPhone 8 in S. Korea in 2 days

SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Yonhap) -- U.S. tech giant Apple Inc. sold 140,000 units of the iPhone 8 smartphones in South Korea in two days after its official release, industry watchers said Sunday. Apple started sales of the new iPhone 8 and 8 plus smartphones in South Korea on Friday. Preorders here for the iPhone 8 smartphones stood at just 60-70 percent of demand for its predecessor the iPhone 7 series. Industry watchers said the updates sales numbers are behind the iPhone 7 series, with local Apple fans apparently looking forward to the release of the iPhone X. "Many customers are making inquiries on the release of the iPhone X already," an official from a local mobile carrier said. Due to the weaker-than-expected sales, industry watchers said some retailers are handing out illegal discounts to attract users. While the iPhone 8 comes with a price tag of 946,000 won (US$851) for the 64-gigabyte edition here, some local shops are selling the device at around 400,000 won to users under the condition that they change their mobile carriers. colin@yna.co.kr (END)