Samsung is reportedly setting a 60 million shipment target for the Galaxy S8

Samsung has high hopes for its upcoming flagship device, the Galaxy S8, according to information sourced by The Korea Herald. 

Anonymous industry sources reportedly told the publication that the mobile giant has set its sights on shipping 60 million Galaxy S8 devices this year, significantly higher than any of its previous flagships. The article reports the shipment goals for the previous three flagships being 48 million for the S7, 45 million for the S6 and 45 million for the S5.

The Herald‘s sources also affirmed rumours that the S8 is set to be released mid-April, postponed from the usual March launch. Mass production will reportedly kick off in March with 5 million units rolled out each month after.

“As the release date of the S8 has been postponed to mid-April, Samsung seems to have set a more ambitious goal than before to make up for the loss caused by the Note model, which has so far led Samsung’s smartphone business every first quarter,” one source told The Herald.

So far, analysts are questioning the attainability of Samsung’s purported goal, owing to the fact that it’s brand name may still be tainted by the Note 7 combustion debacle in addition to the over-saturated state of the mobile market, which is not expected to see high growth in 2017.

[source]The Korea Herald[/source]