As you must know by now, Samsung is one of the global partners of the Olympic Games in Paris, France this year, and that comes with a lot of exposure and the chance to put its products front and center in a lot of very creative ways. For instance, giving every single Olympian a special-edition Z Flip 6.
That’s an insanely exclusive device, as in an ideal world, you shouldn’t be able to get your hands on it unless you’re one of the best sportsmen or sportswomen in the world. Well, it seems some of those sportspeople don’t care much for this exclusive device and you can get your hands on one.
Samsung Gave Out About 17,000 Olympic-Edition Galaxy Z Flip 6 Phones To Olympic Participants
Samsung is a global partner for the Olympics. The company wants its presence to be felt at the Games, and one of the ways that it has been able to do that is by giving every single Olympian a brand-new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, in an exclusive special edition. Samsung put about 17,000 of these phones into Olympian hands, with a unique design, even down to the box.
If you’ve been watching the Olympics, you might have seen one of these phones, as participants have been taking selfies on the podium using this phone. It’s the first time in history whereby Olympians are allowed to have phones on the podium.
From the number of units Samsung gave away and the retail price of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, it seems Samsung spent nearly $19m on this sponsorship strategy. That’s a lot of money to spend, in addition to the money it is already paying to sponsor some aspects of the event.
Some Of Those Phones Are Already Finding Their Way To eBay, In Case You Want One
Despite how much money Samsung has forked over for the sake of the 2024 Olympic Games, it seems some Olympians don’t seem particularly impressed by the way the South Korean manufacturer is throwing around money. Some of these rare Samsung foldables have already started showing up in online marketplaces, which means that some Olympians are giving them away.
It’s a bit of a surprise that such an important piece of memorabilia would essentially be thrown to the curb; perhaps the athletes selling them are diehard iPhone users. Jokes aside, AD in The Netherlands was able to speak with some Dutch athletes who sold their phones on the Dutch marketplace Marktplaats.
Based on the price that these phones are selling for (900 euros), this isn’t being done to turn a clean profit. You’d expect such a limited device to be selling much higher into four digits. According to one of them, “…I already have a phone”. That’s rather amusing because most people do, but hey, if you don’t need it, I guess you don’t need it.
All I can say is that it might have been a bit more tasteful to at least wait until the games were over before spitting on a benefactor’s gift and throwing it to the wind.
