Samsung Electronics is partnering with global luxury brand Thom Browne again to market a limited edition of its foldable phone, the Galaxy Z5, against Apple’s iPhone 15 series.
According to industry sources on Aug. 24, Samsung Electronics will release Thom Brown editions of the Galaxy Z Fold5 and the Galaxy Z Flip5 as early as mid-September.
Samsung Electronics has been introducing limited Thom Browne editions of the Galaxy Z series since 2020. In 2022 it briefly collaborated with Maison Margiela.
So far, Thom Brown Editions of the Galaxy Z Series have sold out every time they hit the shelves. A Thom Browne edition of the Galaxy Z Flip released in March 2020 came with a leather case and watch strap with a Thom Browne design, along with the Galaxy Watch Active 2 and Galaxy Buzz. It sold out quickly despite its high price (2.97 million won). A Thom Browne edition of the Galaxy Z Fold2, released in September that year, also proved its strong popularity with 230,000 people signing up for limited 5,000 units.
Thom Browne editions of the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Flip3 were also so popular that prices skyrocketed among those who failed to buy them as they were limited editions. Despite being priced at 3.96 million won for the Fold3 and 2.69 million won for the Flip3, which are much more expensive than their regular versions, 460,000 people applied for an online drawing at the time, causing the server hosting it to crash. Some of them were resold on second-hand trading sites with the addition of millions of won to their retail prices.
Industry insiders are watching closely to see if the Thom Browne editions of the Galaxy Z Fold5 and Flip5 will repeat their predecessors’ success. Some are worried because they are more than 1 million won more expensive than their regular versions, and the public’s interest in Thom Browne is not the same as before. Market observers expect that the Thom Browne edition of the Galaxy Fold5 will be priced in the 4 million won range and the Thom Browne edition of the Galaxy Flip4 in the late 2 million won to early 3 million won range.
There is also growing interest in why the Korean smartphone giant is collaborating with Thom Browne again after parting ways in 2022. Previously, after the launch of the Galaxy Z Flip 4 in 2022, Samsung Electronics introduced a limited edition of the foldable model in collaboration with Parisian haute couture house brand Maison Margiela, not Thom Browne, and sold it out in eight seconds.