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| Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note 9 smartphone / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics |
Despite the much hype surrounding the Galaxy Note 9 and the V40 ThinQ, Samsung and LG largely failed to ignite interest in their latest premium smartphones.
On Tuesday, Samsung began a trade-in promotion allowing consumers to trade in their smartphones and receive cash rewards when purchasing the Galaxy Note 9 smartphone. Samsung added it doubled the trade-in values of specific smartphones such as the Galaxy S7, S8, Note Fan Edition and even Apple's iPhone 6 and 7 smartphones.
To receive the cash rewards, those used phones should meet certain requirements. The phones must be able to power on and off and there should be no critical damage to them.
Samsung explained it launched the trade-in promotion program as the sales of the Note 9 phone here exceeded 1 million.
Samsung said it took 53 days to reach the 1 million mark. This is about a week late compared to its predecessor Note 8 which took 48 days to do so last year.
Given the firm had sold 11 million Note 8 smartphones last year, Samsung is reportedly known to set its sales goal of the Note 9 at 12 million. The firm said the promotion will help boost the sales of the Note 9, but it remains to be seen whether the latest premium phone can exceed the number due to its slow sales.
Samsung already provided a fruitful sales promotion before launching the Note 9 phone here in August. For those who preordered the Note 9 with 512GB storage, Samsung bundled its Gear IconX wireless earphone, which is worth 220,000 won here.
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| LG Electronics' V40 ThinQ smartphone / Courtesy of LG Electronics |
The V40 ThinQ will go on sale here starting Oct. 24 and LG is currently taking preorders via its vendors SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus through Oct. 23. The price tag of the phone is 1.05 million won ($931).
LG said it also offers an upgrade program for people who purchase the V40 ThinQ. No matter whether they make a preorder or not, the V40 ThinQ users who are registered to the upgrade program can receive cash rewards up to 40 percent of the purchase price of the smartphone if they repurchase LG's latest smartphone.
V40 ThinQ users can also participate in a sweepstake event. Those who buy the smartphone by the end of next month can join the prize lottery for LG's popular home appliances such as TROMM Styler electronic steam closet and Code Zero cordless vacuum cleaner.
