Galaxy S8 enjoys record-breaking pre-orders in Korea

Pre-orders more than five times that of the Galaxy S7, according to local media.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 went up for pre-order in South Korea over the weekend, where it's been met with a record-breaking reception. ZDNet reports that Koreans snapped up 550,000 Galaxy S8 and S8+ phones in the two-day period since pre-orders began, ahead of the phone's April 21 street date.

To put that number in perspective, it's 2.75 times that of the late Note 7 and 5.5 times that of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. The Galaxy S8+ model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage — exclusive to Korea and China — was reportedly in highest demand.

Strong demand around Samsung's new flagships in its home market follows a massive marketing campaign by the company. What's more, the lack of a big-screened Samsung flagship last year following the Note 7 recall likely created pent-up demand for the larger of the two phones.

Korean pre-order customers will be among the first to get their hands on the GS8 and GS8+, with pre-orders arriving from April 17.