It's hard to say how this stacks up to the Galaxy S7, although Samsung had noted that pre-orders were up 30 percent compared to a year ago. And other manufacturers? That's tricky when most tend not to divulge model-specific data to avoid tipping their hand to competitors. The closest you get is Apple. It reported selling 50.8 million iPhones last quarter (about 16.9 million per month), but it's not certain how many of those were iPhone 7 and 7 Plus units, let alone how many of them sold in April. Without directly comparable figures, it'd be difficult to declare a sales leader in high-end phones.

As it is, Samsung is likely less concerned about raw numbers and more about its bottom line. In that sense, the S8 could easily be a success. Samsung racked up record operating profit in the quarter before the S8 stared shipping (albeit mainly on the back of chip sales), and the phone's strong early showing is only bound to help.