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Samsung confirms Korea is the home of the phablet: 10 million Notes sold since launch

By Daniel Petrov

Published: Jan 16, 2014, 6:14 AM

Samsung Android

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South Korea is the home of the phablet, and Samsung's Note family is its most popular inhabitant

If you have to name one country where the phablet category is red hot, it's Samsung's home turf of South Korea. A research firm pointed out last summer that South Korea is the home of the phablet, with full 41% of its mobile users carrying a phone with a screen larger than 5", compared to only 7% worldwide. Of course, this is the land of Samsung with its Note line, as well as LG and Pantech, but the trend seems to be gradually spreading in the global market as well.

As if to bring home a point, Samsung just boasted that it has broken the 10 million mark with Note handsets sold in its home country alone. That includes three years and change of sales, since the introduction of the original Galaxy Note, and is certainly an impressive feat in a country of 50 million.

Here are some charts from the last South Korean mobile market survey, that show how popular big-screen handsets are there. It is also the first mobile market to reach full saturation, and the first with commercially available LTE-A network, so it's definitely now at the forefront of developments in the mobile industry.

South Korea mobile market saturation

source: Samsung

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena from 2010 to 2025, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.