Samsung’s Electronics’ ambitious new phablet, the Galaxy Note8, has broken Note presale records at home and abroad, the company said at a media briefing in Seoul Tuesday. “We are expecting preorders to reach 800,000 units by the end of the eight-day presales period,” said Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung’s mobile communication business during the media event, adding that figures thus far have exceeded his expectations. Preorders of the phablet, which Samsung hopes will redeem the Note brand after the total recall of its fire-prone predecessor, hit 650,000 units in five days in Korea, after recording 395,000 preorders in only 24 hours after presales began on Friday. The Note7 series had 400,000 preorders over a 13 day presale period on the domestic market. While the company did not disclose exact figures for global presales, Koh said the phablet is gaining positive feedback from phone retailers spread over more than 40 countries and has broken the previous presales record. After the short-lived Note7 was pulled from shelves as its battery was found to be causing unexpected explosions the smartphone maker has suffered from the loss of its phablet line, even reconsidering whether the company should continue the Note line-up. “In May we surveyed about 5,000 Note phone users on whether the Note line-up should be maintained,” Koh said. “About 85 percent of the respondents expressed brand loyalty and so we have decided to retain the brand for the fan base.”