Samsung is turning its Galaxy S25 Ultra smartphones into live broadcast cameras for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony on Feb. 6. Working with Olympic Broadcasting Services, the company's installing Galaxy devices on jibs, stadium stands, and athlete tunnels to capture angles traditional cameras can't reach - wirelessly streaming footage to over 75,000 spectators and millions watching globally. It's a bold experiment in how consumer tech can reshape professional broadcasting.
Samsung is gambling that smartphone cameras are ready for prime-time Olympic broadcasting. The company just detailed how it's weaving Galaxy S25 Ultra devices directly into the Opening Ceremony production workflow for Milano Cortina 2026, set to kick off Feb. 6 inside San Siro Stadium.
The deployment marks a shift from sponsor activation to technical integration. Galaxy S25 Ultra smartphones will be mounted on jibs above the field, positioned in stadium stands, and installed in athlete entrance tunnels - locations where traditional broadcast rigs can't easily go. The phones stream footage wirelessly via 5G, feeding directly into the live broadcast environment managed by Olympic Broadcasting Services without disrupting existing camera workflows.
"The Opening Ceremony embodies that spirit, and through our partnership with Samsung, we can capture dynamic perspectives that complement our core broadcast coverage," Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of OBS, told Samsung Newsroom. The setup will broadcast to over 75,000 spectators in the stadium and millions watching globally as 3,500 athletes from over 90 countries enter the arena.
But the Opening Ceremony is just the visible piece. Samsung's real test comes from the Games' geography. Milano Cortina 2026 is the most geographically spread-out Winter Olympics in history, with venues scattered across northern Italy. That's where on-device AI gets practical.
