Online sales of Samsung Electronics’ Z Flip Thom Browne edition ended within just 2 1/2 hours on Friday.

Samsung Electronics at Thursday midnight started sales of the limited Thom Browne edition of its new foldable phone. The company’s official website suffered crashes from the load as a rush of consumers tried to connect all at once.

The number of Z Flip Thom Browne edition phones sold remained undisclosed by the company.

Samsung Electronics was initially to open sales of the Z Flip edition at five offline venues across the nation. But it changed the plan to sell the phone only via its website to prevent would-be customers from camping outside points of sale overnight, against the backdrop of the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

The limited edition Z Flip units are already appearing on the secondhand market at a premium price. The Thom Browne edition is being resold at around 3.5 million-4.5 million won ($2,900-$3,730), compared to the retail price of 2.9 million won.

Samsung Electronics said it is currently securing the supply for the Z Flip Thom Browne edition, which the company will send out in March to those who successfully preordered it.

The company added that it is considering securing another batch of the limited edition for future sales.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)