Samsung faces Galaxy S8 and S8+ supply crunch in South Korea

Some early customers in South Korea have still not received their new Galaxy smartphones as Samsung faces heavy demand amid short supply of the new device.

The company began taking pre-orders for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ on 7 April and delivery was expected within the next 11 days.

But as the pre-orders surpassed one million, the stocks ran out quickly and Samsung was unable to deliver the handsets on time. It promised to give promotional gifts to early buyers.

The company on Saturday (22 April) said it will extend the deadline for registration of preordered 64GB Galaxy S8 and S8+ models, adding there was "an imbalance of inventories by colour or model at retail stores", reports Yonhap.

A Samsung official told the news agency: "We have extended the registration period of the two models till April 30 from the initial planned 24<sup>th."

This is not the first time Samsung has extended the deadline for its new Galaxy smartphones. Last week, the company announced an extension of the registration of the 128GB Galaxy S8+, due to a supply crunch.

The midnight black and orchid grey models of the S8 are said to be in short supply.

Industry watchers believe the tight supply position might lead to an awkward situation where the early buyers receive their S8 later than the customers who bought the handset after the official rollout on 21 April.

The S8 models recently went on sale in select countries such as the US, Canada, Puerto Rico and Korea. The company said the rollout will continue in other markets across the world in the coming weeks.