Image Credit: JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images 
South Korean tech company Samsung has quietly dropped the letter ‘Z’ from its newest range of folding smart phones in several Eastern European countries, presumably for fear of being associated with Russian military forces.
Samsung had branded its newest phones as the ‘Galaxy Z Fold 3’ and ‘Galaxy Z Flip 3’, and had released a raft of promotional material with the letter ‘Z’ emblazoned on the devices.
However, the products are now simply listed as the ‘Galaxy Fold 3’ and ‘Galaxy Flip 3’ on the company’s official website in the Baltic countries.
No official statement has been made by the company, however “The Korean brand is probably dropping the letter Z in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, considering the markets where the name change is in effect,” the outlet Android Headlines noted.
Bizarrely, the symbol still appears on marketing within Ukraine at time of writing. One would think, however, that market is not so hot right now for sales of gimmicky folding phones.
The letter ‘Z’ has been spotted on Russian military hardware and for some has come to symbolise support for the Kremlin, although ‘Z’ hasn’t been adopted officially by the Russian military.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba called on the world to “criminalize” the letter ‘Z’, saying that it represents “Russia’s war of aggression.” Ironically he spelled the word ‘criminalise’ with a ‘z’, rather than use the correct English spelling with an ‘s’.
As we previously noted, Switzerland’s largest insurer Zurich dropped ‘Z’ as their main logo, saying it was “temporarily removing the use of the letter ‘Z’ from social channels where it appears in isolation and could be misinterpreted.”
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