A large Consumer Group in Korea is angered over Apple not including their country in the first round of iPhone 15 Shipments
Apple’s latest flagship iPhone 15 series will begin to ship in Korea on October 13 and take preorders one week ahead of that date.
The Korea Herald reports that Apple is preparing to sell its new smartphones -- the iPhone15, iPhone15 Plus, iPhone15 Pro and iPhone15 Pro Max -- on Oct. 13 in Korea, taking preorders a week ahead of the official release here, sources said. That's three weeks after the iPhone 15 went on sales in 40 countries, including the US, UK, Japan, China, France, Germany and India, before a second round of releases in 21 countries, including Macau, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Korea has usually been a second-tier or third-tier group when it comes to iPhone launches. It was an exception when the iPhone14 series was released simultaneously with the first launch countries in October last year due to delays in supply of the iPhone14 Plus model.
The Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty, a nonprofit consumer group based in Seoul, released a statement on Wednesday, saying, "Apple should stop disregarding Korean consumers." The group also called Apple to include Korea in the first-tier group like neighboring countries such as Japan.
While Apple did not provide clear answers regarding its late iPhone launch in Korea this year, some market watchers are blaming the radio certification process of the state-run National Radio Research Agency for the delay here. Source
Apple has opened five stores in Seoul including their Gangnam Store that opened in March of this year. Apple is committed to the S. Korean market and this year's delay is likely one out of their control as market watchers have eluded to.
Comments