Samsung quietly removes 'Z' branding in Ukraine, other European countries

What you need to know

• The Samsung website has removed the letter "Z" from its website listing for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3.
• This change appears to only have taken place for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine Samsung websites.
• Samsung has not commented publicly on the change.

If you navigate to Samsung's website and try to read about the Galaxy Z Fold 3 or Galaxy Z Flip 3 in a select few European countries, you'll notice a big, yet subtle, change. The letter "Z" that normally appears after the Galaxy name has been removed entirely, leaving only the names Galaxy Fold 3 or Galaxy Flip 3.

The change only appears on Samsung's Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine regional websites, while the rest of the world — including the Russia site — still features the Galaxy Z branding. We've reached out to Samsung to find out if this branding change is only temporary or if it's going to be a more permanent move.

The letter "Z" has been used as a pro-Russia campaign and can be seen spraypainted on the side of Russian military vehicles, as well as on social media. There has been no official explanation of the use of the letter Z, which does not appear in the Cyrillic alphabet used in either Russia or Ukraine.

It's likely that Samsung is trying to distance its own brands from the campaign as the war in Ukraine continues to rage on. Other brands have distanced themselves from Russia since the war began over a month ago, including pulling products and services from Russia.

Both the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 are two of the very best foldable phones, but the branding didn't always include the letter "Z" in it, officially. The original Galaxy Fold 5G debuted without the letter, and it wasn't until the second-generation Galaxy Z Fold 2 that we saw Samsung add the letter. Whether this is a temporary measure or a permanent branding move is yet unknown.