Samsung Galaxy Fold sold out in two seconds in China

The second batch of the Samsung Galaxy Fold will arrive in China on Monday in time for Singles’ day, drawing much attention to whether the foldable smartphone will help spur growth of the Korean manufacturer whose market share in China has fallen below one percent.

According to foreign media including JD.com, the Samsung Galaxy Fold has been breaking records since its launch last Friday. The new smartphone sold out in just two seconds on JD.com and in five minutes on the online store of Samsung Electronics. With people trying to get their hands on the new device, there were lines stretching outside Samsung’s flagship store on Nanjing East Road, Shanghai, which opened last month.

With Singles’ day becoming one of the biggest shopping events in the country, it is expected that the volume will be double the first batch’s, which was 20,000. The 4G long term evolution (LTE) model will be available in China for 15,999 yuan (about 2.65 million won), a relatively high price considering that the Galaxy Fold 5G is sold at 2.39 million won in Korea.

Analysts say that Samsung’s new smartphone has successfully grabbed the attention of Chinese millennials who love state-of-the-art devices. Samsung currently takes up only 0.7 percent of the market share in China sandwiched between Apple and Huawei. However, it plans to appeal to millennials with its innovative devices such as the Galaxy Fold and 5G smartphones to gain an edge over its rivals.


Hyoun-Soo Kim kimhs@donga.com