Amid the scorching summer heat that arrived earlier than usual, Samsung Electronics’ wind-free air conditioners are selling like hotcakes, with expectations that it may become the company’s best-selling flagship home appliance, despite consumer complaints about odor from the product. 

According to Samsung, the popularity of its wind-free air conditioners is now higher than when they were launched last year, with some tightness in its inventories. 

“As of this month, sales of wind-free models reached 70 percent of all standing AC models,” said Choi Min-young, vice president for air conditioner marketing at Samsung. “We see that doing without the wind is becoming a major trend, even though the models are about 300,000 won ($266) pricier than rival products.” 

Wind-free models account for about 50 percent of total air conditioner sales, he added.

Samsung launched floor-standing and wall-mounted wind-free air conditioners last year, featuring Wind-Free Cooling technology, which enables the provision of cool air through a total of 135,000 holes on the surface of the air conditioners -- each a millimeter across -- without directly blasting users with air. 

From January 2016 through June this year, a total of 550,000 wind-free air conditioners were sold, according to the company. The country’s entire air conditioner market is estimated to be equivalent to a sales volume of 2 million units. 

However, consumer complaints about abnormal odors caused by the air conditioners are continuously being filed with the company’s after-sales service center. 

On an internet community of mothers, a 30-something owner of a Samsung wind-free air conditioner wrote Saturday that she would get a refund for the product that she bought last year.

“We purchased the 2016 model with highest specifications as part of the preparation for my postpartum care during which I needed to avoid cool wind,” she said. “But an odor smelling like a rotten floor-cloths continued to bother me every time I turned on the AC, and I decided to return it after three after-service measures that added deodorants couldn’t solve the problem.” 

There were similar complaints by other buyers of the 2016 models. Samsung posted a list of frequently asked questions about its wind-free air conditioners on its homepage, with an official stance that such odor problems are common with all kinds of air conditioners. 

“While the air conditioner is running, an internal heat exchanger gets damp, which should be well-dried,” a company official said. “Products manufactured after July 10 are equipped with an automatic dryer function that will help dry the inside of the air conditioner for 10 minutes after the user turns it off.” 

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)