Another day, another story about the Galaxy Z Flip selling out soon after it was made available for purchase. China is a highly lucrative market for Samsung and the company has been working hard to regain its lost market share.

The Galaxy Z Flip presents the company with an opportunity to target customers who are looking for something unique, a smartphone that’s unlike anything else on the market right now. No wonder, then, that customers in China were quick to get their hands on the Galaxy Z Flip. It sold out just nine minutes after Samsung start taking orders online.

Galaxy Z Flip is on a roll in China

Samsung doesn’t reveal how many units are made available initially so it could be 100 units or 10,000, nobody knows, but the company gets to create more hype. These stories about the device selling out feed into the element of scarcity that gets more people to make a purchase than you’d think.

What’s interesting, though, is the interest that customers in China have shown in the Galaxy Z Flip at this point in time. Consumer sentiment in the country has dampened as China pulls together to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Yet, the Galaxy Z Flip was capable of having a strong first outing in the country. The exclusive Thom Browne edition was sold out as well in just three minutes.

Customers in China are used to seeing flip phones from Samsung. It was actually one of the very few countries where Samsung launched its W series of flip phones. It was only this year that Samsung didn’t release a conventional flip phone under the W series, it launched the Galaxy Fold as the W20 5G instead. This was likely because of the Galaxy Z Flip which is a truly next-gen foldable flip phone.

Samsung will begin delivering the handsets to customers in China immediately. The company will soon make another batch of units available to customers who weren’t able to purchase it the first time around. Despite a coronavirus-related shutdown at the factory where the Galaxy Z Flip is made, Samsung is confident that there’s not going to be an impact on the supply.