Samsung Galaxy Note 7 goes brandless in Japan

There's something different about the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that Japan got, and it's not RAM or the processor.

Unlike in the west, where the Samsung logo is prominently displayed on the phone, you will find the Japanese edition of the Galaxy Note 7 free from any such branding. And the result is quite stylish.

This is not the first time the South Korean giant has omitted its branding from its products, with the recently released Japanese and the Chinese version of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge not featuring Samsung's signature branding on the front.

Samsung has not explicitly said why it makes these branding decisions, but it may have something to do with the tense nature of East Asian relations that stretches all the way back to the Second World War. As reported in The Guardian, the tension between South Korea and Japan has spilled out from politics into industry, especially since Japan elected Shinzo Abe to the Prime Minister's office.

This has had massive effects on companies like Samsung in Japan, the world's third largest economy. Samsung controls just about 5 percent of the Japanese smartphone market in 2014, according to CounterpointResearch, with that trend continuing in 2015. Apple, meanwhile, dominates the market.