BARCELONA, Spain — Gross sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S23 flagship smartphone have outstripped final 12 months’s S22 in a comparative interval with the vast majority of patrons choosing the costliest model of the gadget, an govt on the South Korean know-how large instructed CNBC.

Samsung launched the Galaxy S23 this month. The sequence options three fashions: the usual S23, a barely costlier S23+ and the top-of-the-line S23 Extremely. The S23 Extremely begins at $1,200.

Patrick Chomet, govt vice chairman at Samsung Electronics, instructed CNBC in an interview that in comparison with final 12 months, S23 gross sales are a lot better to this point than the S22. The S23 went on sale on Feb. 17.

Chomet added that Samsung has dedicated to “double-digit development” within the premium phase of its smartphones in 2023, which incorporates the Galaxy S23 sequence but in addition its newest foldable telephones which have been launched final 12 months.

“So we’re on the premium phase, regardless of the tough financial setting, we see a gradual alternative for us. And the reason being we’re very aggressive, as a result of we’ve got introduced plenty of innovation in that phase,” Chomet mentioned in an interview on the Cell World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.

Chomet revealed that the costliest model of the flagship telephones — the S23 Extremely — accounted for about 60% of worldwide S23 pre-orders.

“We anticipate, form of, a wholesome portion of the combo, to be skewed to towards the premium,” Chomet mentioned.

The preliminary gross sales of the S23 shall be welcome information for Samsung which had a tricky 12 months within the smartphone market in 2022. General smartphone shipments final 12 months recorded their worst 12 months since 2013, in keeping with analysis agency IDC. Samsung shipments fell greater than 15%, IDC mentioned. The hunch was because of inflation and a worsening outlook for the financial system.

Working revenue within the firm’s cellular and networks enterprise fell 16% year-on-year in 2022.

However there may be nonetheless demand for costly smartphones. Excessive-end smartphones, those who value over $800, accounted for 18% of the entire handset market in 2022, up from 11% in 2020, Canalys information exhibits.

That is the place Samsung is hoping to develop its smartphone enterprise which might supply the corporate doubtlessly increased margins and higher income.

Chomet mentioned the upper proportion of S23 Extremely pre-orders is an “indication that regardless that individuals are extra cautious” within the premium phase of the smartphone market there are nonetheless lots of people “who need the very best of the very best.”