Since 1998, Samsung has illustrated its longtime support of the Olympic games by providing competitors with latest the Samsung phones.
While great for the competitors, who now have more to brag about beyond actually participating in an event that comes only once every four years, there was just one problem: regular people couldn't get their hands on the devices.
Now, that will no longer be the case. As the 2016 Olympic Games reach Rio, Brazil, Samsung might still be keeping its tradition alive by giving away a special "Olympic Games" variant of the Galaxy S7 edge to 12,500 Olympic athletes, but now, anyone can get in on the action as the phone is available to purchase at Best Buy for $849.99.
To be fair, however, saying "anyone" is a bit of a stretch. Yes, the phones are available for purchase, but they will only be made available at participating stores in Brazil, the U.S., China, Germany and Korea. Furthermore, only 2,016 (get it?) of the devices will be available in each of the aforementioned countries.
Fortunately, those who are unable to get their hands on the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Limited Edition smartphone won't be missing out on too much, as the device features the same core hardware as the standard 32 GB variant. Instead, the key features that separate this limited-edition phone and its standard form are the external look and internal software that Samsung decided to include.
On the outside, Samsung incorporated red, green, blue, yellow and black patterns in order to mirror the iconic Olympic Rings. The blue can be found on the main rear camera, sensors and flash unit, the red can be found on the power and lock button, the volume rocker is green and the speaker and home button are in yellow. Lastly, black is the most prominent of the Olympic colors on the phone, as the device itself features a sleek black finish.
This custom theme continues on the inside of the device with a themed interface that features the Olympic colors in areas such as the home and lock screens, Samsung message, dialer and contact screens and the notification bar. In addition, there is an assortment of Olympic Games motifs inspired by the 2016 Rio games that can be used as wallpapers, as well as a newly-developed 3D Flag application that can be used by customers to choose their nation of choice and display it on the device's 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display.
To top it all off, in a bid to reduce the amount of waste packaging for a new smartphone, Samsung included a special reusable pouch that can be used to carry various objects.
Once again, the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Limited Edition is available from participating Best Buy locations in Brazil, the U.S., China, Germany and Korea for $849.99. You can get an overview of the phone in Samsung's unboxing video below.
