T-Mobile has never been one to do a normal unboxing for a new Samsung Galaxy flagship, so this time, the company upped the ante and explored Samsung’s latest and greatest while flying over 9,000 feet in the sky. Des, T-Mobile’s PR person, took the helm of the stunt.
Along with four others, he hopped up in a small plane, flew about 13,000 feet up while showing off the various features of the devices in the Galaxy S10 lineup, and capped the video off by recording two crew members testing out the phones’ wireless power sharing feature at right around the 9,000 foot mark. The unboxing video also showed off the Galaxy S10’s camera chops; the whole thing was shot on one.
Before the video got off the ground, Des made sure to show off what T-Mobile customers will get in the box when they choose a Galaxy S10 variant, as well as the differences between the Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10e. That is to say, the Galaxy S10e has dual cameras on the back, while the other two have a triple camera setup. Around front, the S10e sports a flat display versus a curved one on the other two devices. The Galaxy S10+ sets itself apart from the other two with a second camera up front. The Galaxy S10e is also the only one in the pack without an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor under the screen.
The video also showed off the color variants for the Galaxy S10 family that will be hitting T-Mobile. Galaxy fans on Magenta, no matter which version of the phone they go with, will all get the device of their choice, in Prism Black, Prism White, Prism Blue, Flamingo Pink, or Canary Yellow, along with a USB Type-C cable and charger brick, a set of AKG headphones, and a T-Mobile SIM card.
This unboxing gone airborne is, as mentioned before, the continuation of a pretty well-established pattern for T-Mobile. The company normally takes one or more key facets of a device that’s ripe for unboxing, then notches them up to the extreme. The Galaxy Note 9’s battery life was put to the test in an all-day unboxing, for example, and the Galaxy S8 had its water resistance tried out in an underwater unboxing video. The Galaxy Note 7 received the same treatment before units started going up in flames.
What all of this means for Samsung Galaxy S10 buyers on T-Mobile is the same thing that this tradition means for Samsung Galaxy buyers on T-Mobile every year. The Un-Carrier is going to push this already wildly popular device hard, and it’s not unwilling to resort to its usual bombastic shenanigans to do so. The videos serve a dual purpose of showing the devices in their element, and usually being roughed up to some extent. In this case, users now know that the Galaxy S10 family can share power wirelessly even when held by shaky hands that belong to people close to 10,000 feet in the air.
Those who don’t want to play the role of early adopters, however, can probably wait a while and see the phone go on some sort of special sale, as usually happens with Galaxy S flagships once they’ve been out for a few months. These deals usually have some sort of stipulation, like being tied to adding a new line or porting in a number from another carrier.