When you think about Olympic broadcast technology, you probably picture massive camera rigs and production trucks worth millions. You don’t think about smartphones.
But Samsung just changed that narrative at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
The company positioned 26 Galaxy S25 Ultra devices around Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium to capture live footage that fed directly into the global broadcast. These weren’t backup cameras or social media content tools. They were legitimate broadcast sources placed above the field, in the stands, and inside athlete tunnels.
Olympic Broadcasting Services, the organization responsible for delivering footage to networks worldwide, worked with Samsung to integrate these phones into their workflow. The phones streamed wireless video in real time without disrupting existing camera operations.
This matters because it represents a shift in how major live events think about coverage angles and production flexibility.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra comes with a 200MP main sensor, a 50MP ultrawide lens, and dual telephoto cameras offering 3x and 5x optical zoom. It also records in 8K, which gives broadcasters serious resolution for cropping and reframing during post-production.
Samsung also handed out Galaxy Z Flip 7 Olympic Edition phones to the 3,500 competing athletes, letting them document their own perspectives from the ceremony.
The timing is notable. Samsung just dropped the S25 Ultra’s price by $250 to $1,049.99, weeks before the expected Galaxy S26 Ultra launch on February 25. If you want capable mobile photography hardware now, the discount makes sense.
