Samsung's massive discounts send Galaxy sales soaring 20-fold, putting Apple on alert

"Apple is in serious trouble at this rate."

A sweeping Samsung Electronics Galaxy discount campaign run through Naver drove sales more than 20 times higher than a year earlier, while demand for the iPhone continues to cool.

Galaxy's domestic usage rate has surpassed 80 percent, while the iPhone has fallen below 20 percent, according to a survey. Apple's foothold in South Korea is shrinking.

According to Naver, Galaxy smartphone transactions through its shopping live-stream service during the "Naver Deal Festival" — the platform's biggest first-half shopping event, held from June 22 to July 5 — surged more than 2,000 percent compared with the same period last year.

During the event, customers who bought a Samsung Electronics Galaxy through Naver received 20 percent of their payment back as digital Onnuri gift certificates. Combined with card discounts, first-come-first-served coupons and Naver Pay reward points offered during the festival, the effective price customers paid fell sharply.

The Galaxy S26 256GB model, which carries a retail price of 1.25 million won ($853), sold for around 770,000 won after all benefits were applied. The Galaxy S26 Ultra 1TB model, priced at 2.55 million won, dropped to around 1.58 million won — a discount of nearly 1 million won.

Driven by a range of discounts and marketing campaigns, Galaxy's share of the domestic market continues to grow.

According to Gallup Korea, 81 percent of domestic smartphone users aged 13 and older said they use a Samsung Galaxy — up 9 percentage points from a year earlier. Apple's iPhone, by contrast, fell from 24 percent last year to 19 percent this year, widening the gap between the two brands from 48 percentage points to 62 percentage points.

Samsung Electronics is banking on its next-generation foldable lineup — the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series — to extend its dominance over Apple.

Samsung Electronics opens domestic pre-orders Tuesday. Customers who pre-order the 256GB model will receive a free storage upgrade to 512GB, among other aggressive incentives the company plans to offer.

Samsung Electronics has set South Korea's price at what it calls the most competitive level globally. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 (256GB) is priced at 2.28 million won in South Korea. The US retail price is about 2.81 million won — more than 500,000 won higher than the domestic price. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is also priced lower at home, with a domestic retail price of 2.58 million won compared with about 3.1 million won in the United States.

"Our goal is to offer Korean consumers the most competitive prices of any country in the world, and we will do our best to maintain that going forward," Roh Tae-moon, Samsung Electronics president and head of the DX Division, said at a press briefing.