Samsung’s newly launched Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will not feature any type of external carrier branding. In previous years, carriers have always included their logos on the rear – and sometimes on the front – of devices sold through them. More recently, though, carriers have slowly been retreating from this practice, with T-Mobile and Sprint no longer including their logo on the majority of devices, though Verizon and AT&T have maintained a more strict view. Now, for many, logos aren’t a problem, but when the device in question is a premium one, it’s easy to understand why consumers may not want carrier logos on their devices and Samsung knows this.
With the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ it appears Samsung has managed to come to an agreement with the more resistant carriers, specifically with Verizon and AT&T. Thanks to this, the company’s new flagship line is available totally free of any carrier branding, at least in terms of the exterior design. Software wise, though, not much has changed, with all four carriers including some kind of modifications. Independent of the carrier that the device is purchased from, each one includes their own splash screen on bootup, as well as their own pre-installed carrier apps. Taking into consideration that external logos have been part of Verizon and AT&T’s marketing strategy for so many years, though, it’ll be interesting to see how long it will be before software modifications also start disappearing.
With Samsung now being defiant in the fact that it no longer wants carrier branding on the outsides of its premium devices, many other manufacturers could decide to follow suit in the near future and strike a deal with the carriers. The only question, though, is whether other manufacturers will be as successful in coming to an agreement. After all, manufacturers such as LG and HTC don’t have the same amount of power as Samsung. Nonetheless, with external carrier branding no longer as effective as in previous years, carriers are gradually becoming more lenient when it comes to this aspect of the devices sold by them. Due to this, it could be only a matter of time before carrier branding disappears permanently from the exterior of devices and, eventually, maybe even the software aspect as well.