True, the store where I got mine was pretty surprised when I asked them for it and even had to order it since they had none in store and I most likely was their first customer asking for a Pro 5, though just as you said the M2 Note was apparently quite popular.

As for Apple over Samsung as someone who sold his iPhone 6 for the Pro 5 I personally won't ever go back to Apple. Don't get me wrong, their hardware is really good but it's just way too limited software wise and jailbreak development apparently stalled (I was stuck on 8.4.1 without a jailbreak as 9 sucked on anything below the 6S), leaving it locked so tightly that it should be against the law.