Every Olympic-themed Samsung phone has released so far

It’s that time again, when we get to see our favorite athletes and strongest national competitors fight for gold in the Olympic Games. However, if you’re as big of an Android fan as we are, you might be looking to see which athletes are sporting their Olympic Edition phones. That’s right, Samsung is giving every athlete a custom Olympic Edition version of the brand-new Galaxy Z Flip 6, which is one of the best phones on the market right now.

However, the latest Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition isn’t the first Samsung phone to be used at the Olympics. In fact, the tradition can be traced as far back as 1988, and we’ve uncovered 15 different Olympic Edition phones, starting with the 1998 version. The long history of Samsung phones at the Olympics is more than just a cool partnership, it’s a great way to trace the progress of mobile phones, two years at a time.

1 Samsung N206 (1998)

This chunky phone was featured in the Nagano Winter Games

The earliest official sighting of a Samsung phone at the Olympics we could find was at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. This is the year the company became the official Worldwide Olympic Partner in Wireless Communications Equipment. As part of that deal, Samsung gave N206 phones to people who organized the games. It was a basic cell phone with a tiny display, a large and chunky design, and a big antenna.

2 Samsung SGH-600 (2000)

A smaller phone brought bigger sales to the Sydney Olympic Games

The next Olympic phone was the Samsung SGH-600 for the Sydney games in 2000, and it was a bit more compact than the preceding N206. Although the actual phone was smaller, sales were much bigger, with Samsung selling over one million units and exporting another two million units.

Curious to know what the flagship feature was? The ability to store up to 100 phone numbers, evidently. Buyers also liked the new voice recording and calendar features that came with it.

3 Samsung SCH-T300 (2002)

The first Olympic Edition with a themed design came to Salt Lake City

The first Olympic Edition phone to have a unique character and design was the SCH-T300. You can see that the entire front of this phone had a striking blue colorway that reflected the Salt Lake City logo for the 2002 Winter Games. There was also a tiny Olympic emblem near the bottom of the dialpad.

In 2002, the SCH-T300 was unique because it was one of the first internet-enabled phones with a built-in web browser. There was also a bigger display, at least for the time — you got a whopping 128 x 128 pixels in this Olympic Edition phone, which is considered the first true Olympic Edition. Aside from the custom design, there were also exclusive Olympic ringtones.

4 Samsung SGH-i530 (2004)

The first Olympic phone with a ‘large touchscreen’ debuted in Greece

Samsung’s next Olympic phone featured a “large touchscreen” — by which I mean it supported 14 lines of text and a display with 162 x 176 pixels. Oddly enough, the outer display was an OLED panel with 65K color.

This Olympic Edition was a lot subtler than the 2002 version, featuring only a small Olympic emblem on the cover. This phone also ushered in Palm OS and the new Wireless Olympic Works (WOW) software, which Samsung designed for Olympic managers and event staff.

5 Samsung D600 (2006)

This sliding Olympic Edition phone was a multimedia powerhouse in Torino

This small and sleek sliding phone, the Samsung D600, was chosen to serve as the Olympic Edition for the Torino 2006 games. It had a two-inch display and was probably best known for its multimedia capabilities, as it doubled as an MP3 player and had built-in stereo speakers. Samsung rolled out the official WOW platform alongside the D600 Olympic Edition, following the previous event when WOW was in beta.

6 Samsung SGH-i688 (2008)

Olympic organizers got to use this pre-release version before anyone else

The cool thing about the Olympic Edition for the Beijing 2008 games was that it was a pre-release version of a Samsung smartphone. The company gave the Samsung SGH-i688 to officials and organizers ahead of its official launch, which was a first.

Again, this phone had a low-key Olympic emblem on the back, and its flagship feature was push-to-talk (PTT), which helped organizers communicate more effectively with many people at once.

7 Samsung Omnia II (2010)

An Olympic Edition smartphone with Windows Mobile OS

You can trace the evolution of mobile operating systems through the Olympic Edition phones. Early smartphones used Palm OS, but the Omnia II brought Windows Mobile OS to the Vancouver 2010 games. This is also the first true Olympic smartphone, featuring Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS connectivity.

On the software side of things, the Omnia II supported facial recognition, geotagging, and cloud uploads. It also had a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen and an improved rear camera. This Olympic Edition phone was what came before the Galaxy series that we’re all very familiar with today.

8 Samsung Galaxy S3 (2012)

The first Galaxy phone to be used as an Olympic Edition came to London

The first Galaxy phone to be featured at the Olympic Games was the Samsung Galaxy S3. Of course, the Galaxy S-series represents Samsung’s best phones today — foldables notwithstanding — and this legacy was cemented in London at the 2012 games. The event was all about product placement, with celebrities using the Galaxy S3 throughout the games. Actor Rowan Atkinson even used a Samsung device while in character as Mr. Bean, though it was a low-end Galaxy Ace model and not the Olympic-themed Galaxy S3.

9 Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (2014)

The first-ever USB 3.0 phone debuts in Sochi

Samsung’s next Olympic Edition phone was the Galaxy Note 3, and it was the first time the company gave free phones to all competing Olympic athletes. There were plenty of other “firsts” to talk about in relation to the Galaxy Note 3, like how it was the first phone to ever support USB 3.0, which enabled faster data transfer — at the cost of an unsightly Micro B port, of course.

Nearly all of Samsung’s upgrades to the Note 3 were intended to match consumer trends that called for better multimedia support, which is why this Olympic Edition brought 4K video recording support and a 13-megapixel camera. By 2014, we’re really starting to see phones mature into the platforms we’re familiar with today — big displays and all — and the Note 3 was really the start of that.

10 Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (2016)

These Olympic Edition phones were given to competing athletes in Rio

Now we’re really starting to get into familiar territory. The Rio 2016 games saw the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge debut as the Olympic Edition, and it had a few neat and original design cues. There were blue Olympic rings on the back of the phone, but the power button, volume rockers, and earpiece speaker all featured different colors, mimicking the multicolor Olympic logo.

People liked this version of the phone so much that it was released for anyone to buy in Japan, Korea, the United States, China, Germany, and Brazil.

11 Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (2018)

This all-white smartphone brought a classy style to PyeongChang

Luckily for everyone involved, the Note 7 was released at just the right time to never make an appearance at the Olympic Games. Instead, it was the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 that appeared at the PyeongChang games in 2018. This Olympic Edition wasn’t too special, aside from the slick white-and-gold colorway. The finer and more unique details were in the software — Samsung helped launch an official mobile app for the 2018 Winter Games that was downloaded by more than a million people.

12 Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus (2020)

COVID killed the Olympics, but it didn’t kill the Olympic phone

The only Olympic Games to feature two Olympic Edition phones was the 2020 installment, held in Tokyo. Unfortunately, this year’s competition was canceled due to the emergence of COVID-19, so while we saw a glimpse of the Galaxy S20 Plus with an Olympic-themed design, it was never released.

13 Samsung Galaxy S21 (2021)

Second time’s the charm, right?

The Olympic Edition that was actually released for the Tokyo 2020 games was a version of the Samsung Galaxy 21 5G. It was given to 17,000 athletes competing in the Olympics and Paralympics, and had a stunning design, featuring a striking blue chassis with either the Olympic Rings or Paralympic Agitos on the back. This smartphone again featured pre-installed software designed to help athletes and organizers navigate the games.

It’s a shame Samsung never released this colorway outside of Tokyo — it’s exactly the sort of shade we’d love to see line store shelves at carriers around the globe.

14 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 (2022)

Flipping into the future with a Beijing-inspired foldable

In 2022, Samsung started using clamshell foldables as its Olympic Edition smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G was given to all Olympic and Paralympic athletes at the Beijing 2022 games. This version featured a white-and-gold colorway with the Olympic Rings inscribed on the back. Aside from that, it was a standard Galaxy Z Flip 3, sporting a slightly bigger cover screen than the Z Flip 5G, a large main screen, and a compact form factor.

15 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 (2024)

The most recent Olympic Edition smartphone

We’ve finally reached the current Olympic Edition, which is a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. There are actually two variants of the Olympic Edition this year: one for fans and one for athletes. To be bluint, the version made for athletes looks absolutely sick, with a multicolor backing featuring all five colors of the Olympic Rings.

The actual phone is gold and features a Paris 2024 inscription, while a custom FlipSuit case adds more color and protection. All told, this Olympic Edition is a complete package that represents the evolution of Samsung’s Olympic phones over time. Some previous editions had a colorful design, and others had a subtle inscription. This year’s Olympic Edition has both.

What can we learn from Olympic Edition phones?

Samsung has released an Olympic Edition phone every year since 1998, and past releases can serve as a time capsule of sorts. These biannual releases trace the progress of mobile phones over nearly three decades, from clunky cell phones to versatile folding smartphones.

We often take smartphone progress for granted, citing the small year-to-year improvements, but these small changes turn into big upgrades over time. Even the 2020 or 2018 versions of Samsung’s Olympic Edition look ancient compared to modern phones today. It has me wondering: just what exactly will the next decade of Olympic Edition phones look like? Only time will tell.