[THE INVESTOR] Tech giant Samsung Electronics plans to ship 43 million units of its flagship smartphone models Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus this year, higher than the 41 million units of Galaxy S8 lineup it sold last year, according to news reports on March 12.

Samsung has requested its local suppliers to set the production schedule of smartphone parts based on its target, The Bell reported, citing an industry source.

Samsung Electronics mobile chief Koh Dong-jin

“Samsung aims to ship 43 million units of the S9 and S9 Plus although it can revise the sales goal depending on market conditions,” said the unnamed source, adding, “The yield rate of the new flagship phones were taken into consideration.”

The moderate on-year increase in the shipment volume this year reflects the slowing growth of the global smartphone industry, according to market watchers.

A recent report published by global market researcher Gartner showed that around 407.8 million handsets were sold in the fourth quarter last year, down 5.6 percent on-year. Most major smartphone makers, including Samsung, Apple and Huawei saw their sales decline in the three months due to a longer handset-replacement cycle of consumers.

Many market analysts, including Counterpoint Research, have previously forecast that the shipment of the S9 models will be in the range of 40 million to 43 million this year.

Samsung reportedly shipped around 41 million units of the S8 and S8 Plus while around 48 million units of the S7, launched in 2016, were sold.

Preorders for the S9 models of Samsung received during a one-week campaign in Korea from Feb. 26 to March 4 was reportedly around 70 percent of the predecessors.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)