If you like Samsung’s smartphones, you’ll wish you were an Olympian. The South Korean company last month unveiled a special edition Galaxy Note 8 for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics; it looks beautiful in renders, but we can tell you for certain it looks even better in real life.
Samsung supplied 4,000 of these special Note 8 phones to all Olympians, International Olympic Committee (IOC), and PyeongChang 2018 Organizing Committee (POCOG) staff. The company is hoping the massive 6.3-inch screen and included S Pen will allow everyone involved in the Olympic Games to “do bigger things,” and the incredible dual-sensor camera will help document this marvelous experience. Much to our dismay, you can’t buy this special edition model.
The new design celebrates the Winter Olympics with an all-new shiny white glass back overlaid with the Olympic logo: Five interconnected gold rings that symbolize the unity of the five continents, the world, and the Olympic Torch. A collection of PyeongChang 2018-themed wallpapers are also included, and each device comes with pre-installed Olympic apps that Samsung hopes will be useful to each of the recipients.
The user interface is also accented with Olympic colors. For example, the Android navigation buttons are color blue, green, and red; the system tray has blue accents, and so does the pattern unlock in the lock screen. This splash of color helps make the special edition Galaxy Note 8 feel all the more unique.
“We’re proud to provide the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games Limited Edition to all athletes in an effort to help them to stay connected, capture and share one of the most memorable moments of their lives,” Samsung Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President Younghee Lee said in a statement.
The Paralympians taking part in the Winter Paralympic Games haven’t been left out, either, and Samsung will also be supplying all of them with the same special edition Note 8, with an additional Paralympics-themed case to commemorate the role smart devices have played in assisting those with disabilities.
This isn’t the first time that Samsung has gotten involved in the Olympic Games. The company began sponsoring the games way back in 1988, when it entered as a local sponsor during the Seoul Olympic Games. Since then, Samsung has become a Worldwide Olympic Partner. It handed out 12,000 special edition Galaxy S7 Edge devices to Olympians during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
With Samsung also involved in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, you can be sure it has something planned for those games as well — so if you want to get your hands on a limited-edition Samsung device, it’s best to hit the track.
Updated on February 13: We added our own photos and hands-on impressions of the Galaxy Note 8 Olympic Edition.
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