Samsung's top phone at a steep discount draws 50,000 extra switchers

Kang, a 42-year-old self-employed business owner, recently upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 512GB. The handset carries a retail price of 2.05 million won ($1,330), but after stacking a credit card discount, an in-store promotion, a 20 percent Onnuri gift-voucher rebate and loyalty points, his effective purchase price came to about 1.43 million won. "My actual card payment was around 1.87 million won, but factoring in the 20 percent Onnuri voucher rebate and roughly 61,000 won in points, I ended up saving more than 600,000 won," Kang said.

A large-scale Onnuri gift-voucher rebate campaign run by Samsung Electronics through Sunday drove a surge in smartphone upgrades. Demand concentrated on Galaxy flagship models pushed the number of mobile number-port transfers in June — typically a slow month — up by more than 50,000 from the previous month. Orders were so heavy that some products faced delivery waits of about a month.

According to the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association and the mobile industry, the number of mobile number-port transfers in June reached 641,932 — an increase of 57,727, or 9.9 percent, from May.

Number-port activity typically slows after May, the month of family holidays, but this year demand expanded instead.

Industry officials attribute the jump to Samsung Electronics' "Samsung Appreciation Festival," which ran from early last month through Sunday. Samsung Electronics returned 20 percent of the purchase price in digital Onnuri gift vouchers to customers who bought eligible products, and offered up to 30 percent in benefits to military personnel, police officers, firefighters and correctional officers. Samsung Electronics covered the entire 400 billion won rebate fund itself.

The discount effect was most pronounced on high-end handsets, where the Onnuri rebate alone reached 300,000 to 400,000 won. Combined with credit card and retailer discounts and loyalty points, buyers flooded social media with purchase receipts — some claiming they bought the Galaxy S26 Ultra 512GB, which retails for more than 2 million won, for around 1.4 million won, while others said they picked up the Galaxy S26, priced above 1.2 million won, for 699,000 won.

Demand flooded Samsung's official online store, major open-market platforms and brick-and-mortar outlets alike, with sources saying the response exceeded even Samsung Electronics' internal expectations. "Foot traffic at Samsung stores nationwide rose more than 50 percent on average after the Appreciation Festival," a Samsung Electronics official said. "Some larger Samsung stores saw visitor numbers more than double."

The order surge also caused delivery delays. Some customers who purchased the Galaxy Z Fold 7 through Samsung's official online store were told they would not receive their devices for about a month.

"The Onnuri voucher rebate appears to have resonated with consumers as a more tangible benefit than a straightforward discount, drawing in buyers who had been putting off a purchase," an industry official said. "Combined with carrier subsidies and retailer discounts, the number-port market picked up as well."

Meanwhile, the demand wave was reflected in carrier subscriber figures for June. SK Telecom posted a net gain of 6,252 subscribers, LG Uplus gained 3,163 and KT Corp gained 2,703.