While Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 7 in other regions has the “Samsung” branding on both the front and the back of the device, the Japanese version of the Note 7 doesn’t say Samsung anywhere.

Even the box is missing the company name.

Samsung hasn’t explained why it has gone this route in the Japanese market, but it isn’t the first time the company has made alterations to the way its brands its devices in Japan and also in China.

Design or politics or both?

In 2015, during heightened diplomatic tensions between South Korea and Japan, the company removed its name from the Galaxy S6, S6 edge and Note Edge smartphones.

It also completely rebranded its retail locations around the country, as the “Samsung Store” was rebranded to the “Galaxy Shop”.

Japanese version as featured on the Samsung Japan website.

At that time, so thorough was the rebrand that marketing material published on Samsung’s Japanese Twitter account showed older handsets like the Galaxy S2 and S3 scrubbed of the brand name.

In the past Samsung has dropped their branding depending on the market and in some cases just removed parts of it. In the Chinese market, for example, the version of the Note 7 has no branding on the front, but does say “Samsung” on the rear of the device.

Whatever the reason, the look of the Japanese device is much more sleek and cleaner with no branding on its front or back. As Daniel Fuller writes in a column at Android Headlines, it’s likely just smart marketing on Samsung’s part.

[su_quote]The sleek and anonymous premium design, bearing no Samsung logos, not only jives more closely with the minimalist design tropes that are largely embraced by Japan, but can also help to distance the phone from its brand, just as in China. In most of the world, Samsung holds a respectable position in the market, and even rules on a global scale. In Japan, however, much like in China, Samsung has fallen far behind local names like Sony and Sharp.[/su_quote]

Considering that Samsung is the number one Android manufacturer in the world, the company could likely get away dropping the logo on its flagships in all regions while keeping its phones instantly recognizable by consumers.