Smartphone world cup: Samsung Galaxy S9+ is our champion

Our Smartphone World Cup is over and it saw record participation. The final alone saw over 100,000 votes and not one but two changes in the lead. If this Cup taught us anything is that fan engagement is invaluable for the success of a phone.

But first, congratulations go to the winner - Samsung Galaxy S9+. It won by a healthy margin, the final score was divided 58/42 in percentage terms, though it was pretty close for a while.

Things changed day to day. The S9+ got the early lead and it seemed as it may cruise to victory. Yet, the OnePlus 6 rallied its fans and with 48h remaining it was confidently in the lead. Then Samsung got its fans into the action and the Galaxy S9+ managed to swing things back in its favor.

This was a proper World Cup, we received votes from all over the world – from as far east as New Zealand and to the western shores of the Americas. Win or lose, this bodes well for the global popularity of our two finalists.

Still, there’s only one gold medal and it goes to the Samsung Galaxy S9+. Here’s the bracket again so you can trace back the path that it took to the finish line: