Apple will open its second Apple Store in South Korea this Friday in a move to expand its presence in the main turf of archrival Samsung Electronics.

Called Apple Yeouido, the second Apple Store is located on the L1 floor of IFC Mall in Yeouido, western Seoul, which is the epicenter of finance, politics and broadcasting.

It is about the same size as the company’s first store, in Garosugil in southern Seoul, which opened in January 2018 and has become a must-visit spot for Apple fans here.

The logo for the Yeouido store was designed by local illustrator Yoony Suk, who was inspired by the skyscrapers of Yeouido.

Apple Korea has hired 117 employees to run the store and respond to customers. 

“The passion and enthusiasm of our Korean customers is an inspiration to all of us at Apple,” said Deirdre O’Brien, senior vice president of retail and people at Apple. “We are honored to continue our expansion in Seoul, having more than doubled the size of our team since opening in Garosugil, and we cannot wait to welcome our first visitors to Apple Yeouido.”

Apple hinted at its expansion plan in Korea last year when it started releasing its iPhone 12 series in the market.

Since Korea is the first county with commercial 5G networks, Apple was eyeing it as a target market to sell its first 5G iPhones.

Backed by the 5G iPhone 12 series, Apple’s smartphone sales volume grew 15 percent to 799.4 million units in the fourth quarter of last year, beating Samsung, according to data from Gartner.

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