Samsung's latest foldable smartphone series Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3 sell by 18 units per minute

[Photo provided by Samsung Electronics Co.]

Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3, the latest foldable smartphone models of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. are selling like hot cakes, topping worldwide sales of 1 million units in just 39 days since launch.

Samsung Electronics released Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3 series smartphones on Aug. 27. The sales of the two new foldable models officially broke the 1 million mark on Oct 4, the company announced Wednesday. It was the 39th day since the models’ market launch.

This means the company has sold 18 foldable smartphones every one minute.

The sales record is the fastest for the smartphone maker’s foldable series and third fastest when including conventional bar-type models. Its Galaxy Note 10 broke the 1 million sales record in 25 days and Galaxy S8 in 37 days.

The achievement is exceptional considering the new foldable phones’ hefty price tag. Galaxy Z Fold 3 is priced at 1,998,700 won ($1,678) for the 256GB model and 2,097,700 won for the 512GB variant. Galaxy Z Flip 3 costs 1,254,000 won.

Consumer demand for Galaxy Z Flip 3 is especially hot, taking up nearly 70 percent of its latest smartphone sales.

Galaxy Z Flip 3, offering four times bigger cover screen than the display on the original Flip with seven different color options, is gaining a big popularity from young consumers, mainly females in their 20s and 30s. More than half of Galaxy Z Flip 3 were found to be consumers in 20s and 30s, according to the company.

For Galaxy Z Fold 3, the 512GB variant has made up nearly 40 percent of total sales.

The two foldable models also opened their first day in the market with much fanfare. Pre-orders of the two models reached 920,000, easily topping market’s expectation of 800,000 units. A total of 270,000 units were activated on the first day, the best record in the country. That is 11 times more than what predecessor Galaxy Z Fold 2 recorded.

The company is also offering generous reward package to Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3 buyers for trading in used smartphones, including Apple’s iPhone XS.

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