A very special edition of Samsung's Galaxy S20+ 5G is officially canceled
2020 is shaping up to be a rather poor year for the mobile industry as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic, but no matter how low global smartphone sales will go by the end of the year, this market decline is nothing compared to the complete standstill of sporting events around the world.
The Summer Olympics are by far the biggest competition impacted by the rapid spread of COVID-19, although unlike many events that will probably have to be canceled altogether, the Tokyo Games should still take place at a later date. Specifically, next summer... assuming a vaccine or other type of effective treatment is properly tested and globally authorized by then.
Interestingly, the 2021 Summer Olympics are set to retain the Tokyo 2020 branding for marketing purposes, which isn't stopping NTT DoCoMo from canceling the Games' official smartphone. Announced just last month, the Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G Olympic Edition (now that's a mouthful) was initially supposed to go on sale in June in limited numbers, but for pretty obvious reasons, that's no longer the case.
Still, it's worth pointing out that Japan's largest wireless service provider is explicitly mentioning the word "cancelation" in its brief press release (translated here) confirming the sad yet predictable news, which most likely means the special Galaxy S20+ 5G edition is not delayed or postponed until next year. Of course, that makes perfect sense given that Samsung is expected to release a few additional high-end smartphones between now and July 2021.
One of these (namely, the Galaxy Note 20 or S21/S30) could ultimately end up in the hands of Olympic Games enthusiasts with the five interlocking rings emblazoned on the special phone's back cover alongside the unchanged Tokyo 2020 logo.
Keep in mind that the snazzy gold-coated Galaxy S20+ 5G Olympic Edition was set to exclusively see daylight in Japan, and the same will likely be true for any sequel the now-canceled product might get. By the way, Samsung has a long tradition of releasing Olympic-flavored mobile devices, dating back to the 2012 Galaxy S III, so there's a good chance that Galaxy S30 5G Olympic Edition is indeed happening.
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