Samsung Galaxy S5 hits South Korea today, defies April 11 ‘launch date’

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 was supposed to launch April 11 in South Korea. But some sneaky stores are already selling it from today, says Bloomberg and Samsung is “very puzzled” by this. It’s called consumerism, guys. If people want it enough, they’ll get it.

April 11 is the global launch date of the S5, where it’s set to hit India, South Korea, UK, the US and other regions. So what gives, why did the S5 launch today in South Korea?

“SK Telecom strongly asked for an earlier release of the product but we delivered our stance that the global release date of April 11 remains unchanged.” says Samsung. SK Telecom are one of the carriers inside South Korea who’re selling the S5 from today. The South Korean government, in all its weird glory, has imposed penalties on companies which have decided to sell the S5 earlier, but companies like SK Telecom don’t give a toss.

“We decided to release the product for a wider consumer choice of handsets before our operation suspension begins on April 5,” says SK Telecom. The S5 will sell for US$808 in South Korea and customers can purchase it online or from one of the brick-and-mortar stores.

The S5, with its fingerprint reader and dimpled back is a slight upgrade to last years S4, and comes with a larger screen (5.1-inches) as well as a 16MP camera.