Apple wants to get into Samsung's face a little more in 2021. Apple Korea announced Monday it would open its second South Korean store in Yeouido, the financial district in northwestern Seoul, as part of a strategy to expand its sales and services in the country. No official opening date was made in the announcement.

More specifically, the second Apple Store of the global tech giant will be located in the first basement floor of the IFC Mall in Yeouido. Apple is opening the second in less than three years after it launched the first one in Garosu-gil in October 2018.

While the announcement has just been made, rumors are already circulating that Apple is working on a the third store location in Myeong-dong, central Seoul in late 2021.  

One local industry official stated that "Korea was the first to commercialize the 5G network, and Apple has just launched its first 5G phones this year. It would appear that Apple wants to tap into Korea's 5G market aggressively.

Although some market data showed that Samsung dominated the Korean smartphone market with a 72.3 percent share as of the third quarter, Apple’s iPhone 12 series is rapidly gaining popularity in the market, with prospects that it could potentially take down Samsung’s market share in the fourth quarter.

Approximately 600,000 units of the iPhone 12 series were sold in the past month, up about 30 percent from its predecessors last year, according to sources in the telecommunications industry.