US tech giant Apple Inc. sold 140,000 units of the iPhone 8 smartphones in South Korea in two days after its official release, industry watchers said Sunday.

Apple started sales of the new iPhone 8 and 8 plus smartphones in South Korea on Friday. Preorders here for the iPhone 8 smartphones stood at just 60-70 percent of demand for its predecessor the iPhone 7 series.

Industry watchers said the updates sales numbers are behind the iPhone 7 series, with local Apple fans apparently looking forward to the release of the iPhone X.

"Many customers are making inquiries on the release of the iPhone X already," an official from a local mobile carrier said.

Due to the weaker-than-expected sales, industry watchers said some retailers are handing out illegal discounts to attract users.

While the iPhone 8 comes with a price tag of 946,000 won

($851) for the 64-gigabyte edition here, some local shops are selling the device at around 400,000 won to users under the condition that they change their mobile carriers. (Yonhap)