Galaxy S21 draws 57m viewers during Unpacked event

The debut of the Galaxy S21 series, the first smartphones to be released globally in 2021, drew the largest number of viewers to its hourlong virtual Unpacked show in the wee hours of Friday morning here.

According to Samsung Electronics, as many as 57 million viewers around the world tuned in to the show streamed via YouTube and the company’s homepage to check out the newest mobile devices to become available this year.

The number of viewers marked the largest for an online unveiling that replaced the physical events previously held in San Francisco, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through the streamed event, Samsung unveiled three flagship models -- the 6.2-inch Galaxy S21, 6.7-inch Galaxy S21+ and 6.8-inch Galaxy S21 Ultra. All three variants support 5G.

South Korean mobile carriers and Samsung started taking preorders Friday morning just after the event.

To boost 5G sales with new Galaxy users, the three major telecom companies here -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus – are running a variety of promotional events.

Top mobile carrier SKT released cheaper 5G data plans ahead of the launch of the Galaxy S21.

“Samsung‘s new flagship models are expected to increase the country’s 5G users,” said Park Kang-ho, an analyst at Daishin Securities. “Galaxy S21 series is estimated to post 32 million units in global sales volume this year, up 23 percent from last year‘s sales of Galaxy S20 models.”

Samsung is aggressively pushing the new flagship series, with the smallest S21 model going on sale with a price tag of 999,900 won ($910) here, making it the cheapest flagship 5G smartphone from Samsung.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)