Besides smartphones and tablets, how many rare Samsung products can you name?
From smartphones to computers and tablets, you can find Samsung products anywhere and everywhere. But did you know that the South Korean company has also manufactured several military equipments? If that piece of information has startled you, then you are in for more such surprises.
In 1938, when Lee Byung-Chull started the company in Korea, Samsung was a completely different business. Until the late ‘60s, Samsung had not tapped into the electronics market. While it continued to have a diverse portfolio of operations, the company emerged as one of the top electronics developers and manufacturers in the world.
Today, Samsung has been built on the legacy of innovation and experimentation and the diversification has allowed it to create an impressive range of products. In this blog, we will shed light on some rare Samsung products that you might not expect from the company’s public image.
List of Rare Samsung Products
- Everland Amusement Park
Did you know Samsung owns an amusement park?
Of all the rare Samsung products, its Everland Amusement park is a unique possession of the company. In 1976, Samsung established the Everland Amusement park outside of Seoul (under the name of Yongin Farmland). The initial layout included just nine rides, botanical gardens, and a free-range animal park and petting zoo. Over the years, the park has expanded to include five different themed zones which will take you all over the world.
One of Everland’s crown jewels is the zoo, dubbed Zootopia, where attendees can get up close and personal with animals from all over the world including a pair of pandas. In 2016, the Chinese government gifted two adult pandas to the park as a state gift. In 2020, the pandas gave birth to a cub, named Fu Bao, who is the first Giant Panda to ever be born in Korea.
- Samsung Welt
Today, wearable technology has become a basic necessity for the modern generation. Most of these wearable technologies have been beneficial to us for health and wellness purposes. With that said, one of the most interesting and rare Samsung products is its wellness belt. The Samsung Welt (short for wellness belt) was launched in 2016.
It has sensors and a charging port, hidden in the buckle and its sensors are capable of tracking your steps, measuring your waistline, and delivering that information to a dedicated app on your smartphone. It even tracks belt tension throughout the day to tell you when you have eaten too much.
The Samsung Welt was not a hit in the market due to its flaws and un-cool name. Luckily, it was not intended for mass production and came out of Samsung’s Creative Lab.
- Tanks
Yes, you heard it right. Samsung has manufactured tanks. However, not for fish but for battle.
Consumer electronics might be the face of Samsung, but it should be clear to this point that they are not averse to dipping their fingers in other industries. And that extends to defense. During Samsung’s diversification in the 1970s, it established Samsung Precision as one of its subsidiaries. It was later renamed Samsung Techwin.
After a few years, Samsung partnered with Hanwha, who eventually and completely acquired Samsung Techwin. It further developed the K9 self-propelled howitzer, a 47-ton tank with automated firing capabilities. In addition, the self-propelled howitzer also has integrated cameras for thermal and video imaging, an armored exterior and can fire up to 8 rounds in a minute!
Although these machines are manufactured in Korea, they have also been exported to other countries like Turkey, Poland, Finland, India, Norway, and Estonia. You cannot buy the tanks until and unless you have access to military contract pathways.
- Killer Robots
It is impossible to be a renowned technology powerhouse and not manufacture/produce robots. Samsung, the same company which unleashed its K9 tank to the world, also manufactured the machine-gun-wielding sentry robot.
Known as SGR-A1, the killer robots are one of the rare Samsung products you will ever come across. Before being acquired by Hanwha, Samsung Techwin designed and manufactured the SGR-A1 for deployment along the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Its aim was to support human forces within the DMZ and even operate autonomously without any human control.
The SGR-A1 was equipped with pattern recognition software which allowed it to differentiate between humans and animals. This was to help it not activate unnecessarily. It also reportedly started small, with warning sounds, before escalating to rubber bullets and eventually live rounds. When the SGR-A1 wants to escalate, it absolutely can, unleashing its complement of 1,000 rounds and a grenade launcher.
- Samsung Motors
Since its launch, Samsung has been an incredibly successful company. However, not all its venture has been runaway success. A great example of this instance is Samsung Motors. When companies like Ford and General Motors in the ‘90s, Samsung decided to step into the automotive game.
In 1994, it established Samsung Motors and four years later, the company was selling its first cars. However, Samsung Motors was not a success. The timing of production was terrible as the Asian financial crisis was on the horizon. In 2000 (two years after the company rolled off its first cars), most of Samsung Motors was sold to Renault for $78 billion. However, Samsung retained about 18% of the company.
The Renault-Samsung relationship did not last for more than two decades as the company grew into one of the top 3 car manufacturers in Korea. After being in partnership for 22 years, it is all set to come to an end in August 2022 with the company reverting entirely to Renault. As of March 2022, Renault Samsung Motors has rebranded to Renault Korea Motors. In case you want to get your hands on this rare product by Samsung, you will probably have to do it on the secondary market.
Other Rare Samsung Products
The above products are not the only rare Samsung products. Besides the above-listed products, one of Samsung’s most unique products is the SPH-N270, inspired by ‘The Matrix’ in 1999. The SPH-N270 is better known by its colloquial name, the Samsung Matrix. It was a limited-edition device that looked similar to the phone from the movie.
However, it did not allow communication with the digital computer-dwelling avatars. Although the exact number of manufactured phones is unclear, it is estimated to be somewhere between 2500and 10000.
