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Samsung Reports the Lowest Quarterly Profit Since 2016

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Like every year, Samsung reports its Q1 profits at the end of April, and ahead of that, the company has revealed that it is likely to face 60 per cent of the decline in its quarterly profits compared to the previous year. The company has reported that the decline in the profits is due to the rapid decrease in the sales of memory chips and its display products.

samsung
Image Source: komando.com

Noticeably, the 2018’s Q1 operating profit was reported to be 15.64 trillion South Korean won, which now has fallen to 6.2 trillion won for this year’s Q1 operating profits. According to Samsung, it had already expected a 14 per cent decline in its operating profits for the first quarter of 2019, which was estimated to be around 13.2 trillion South Korean won.

In the past year, the memory chips prices dropped by a surprising rate, and the company too had stated that price drops were “larger than expected.” This report of the operating profits indicates the Q1 2019 profits will be the lowest since the third quarter of 2016 (due to the worldwide recall of it’s over exploding batteries of Galaxy Note 7 in 2016). In past few years, Samsung has been getting hints on the slowing down of the growth of the company, and even the company is aware of that, as the analysts’ reports has been revealing the continuous decrease in the sales of Samsung products.

Samsung though is trying hard to compete with the biggest tech giants like Apple, the main source of its profits has always been the mid-range products. Also, its semiconductor division has been the greatest contributor to its high revenues. So it may be the time when the company should focus on its loyal customers, and the mid-tier products to secure that additional revenue.

But according to the analysts, this decline in the profits will remain for a bit longer, especially in the memory chip division. The price of the memory chips may decrease up to 20 per cent in the coming future, and then in Q2, the semiconductor division may see even lower profits.,

Samsung Finally Released its Next Generation Galaxy 10 Series Smartphones

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Samsung has just added three new models to its Galaxy smartphone flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+, and S10e. The company launched the phone in its Samsung Galaxy Event on 19 February, held in San Francisco, along with another Galaxy smartphone, i.e. Galaxy fold and other devices including the Samsung wearable, earbuds, etc.

All the four phones are redesigned with the new smart screen, providing the cinematic view to its users. The screen is baseless, and even the front camera is placed within the display, to provide the HD photo quality. By default, the screen resolution is full HD+ and can be changed to Quad HD+ from the Settings.

samsung-galaxy-10
Image Source: cnet.com

The three Galaxy S10 phones are in different screen sizes. The S10 is having a 6.1” screen, the S10+ has got the 6.4” screen, and the S10e has been provided with a 5.8” display. All the three smartphones are having a Quad HD+ and dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O Display. The display is HDR10+ certified, providing the most real display to its users. The AMOLED display is specially built to comfort the eyes, as it reduces harmful blue light by 42 per cent.

The most innovative feature that the company has embedded to its latest flagship Galaxy S10 and S10+ phones is the fingerprint scanner, which has been moved from behind to the front screen of the phone. The scanner uses the ultrasonic pulses to detect the fingerprints. For the S10e smartphone, the fingerprint scanner has been moved to the power button of the phone.

Coming to the camera of the new Galaxy smartphones, the S10 and S10+ are having similar back camera frame including three cameras, i.e. wide-angle (12MP), ultra wide (16MP), and telephoto (12MP) camera. For the S10 plus, there are two front cameras embedded to it, a selfie camera (10MP) and an RGB Depth Camera (8MP). Galaxy S10 has one front camera, whereas the Galaxy S10e has two rear cameras and one front camera.

All three phones are designed with the AI features that adapt to the users’ behaviour and learn their daily routine patterns. The Galaxy S10+ has a 4100mAh, Galaxy S10 has 3400mAh battery capacity, and Galaxy S10e has 3100mAh battery capacity. The next generation smartphones are capable of charging the other Qi-certified devices as well, only by placing the devices on the top of the phone. The device that can be charged using those smartphones includes the Samsung wearable, earbuds and wireless chargers etc.

The RAM size of the smartphones has been increased up to 12GB, the S10e having a 6GB RAM size for the basic model, and the S10 as well as S10+ having a RAM size of 8GB for the basic models. The internal storage for the Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10+ has also been enlarged to up to 1TB, which is expandable up to 1.5TB via microSD card.

The Wi-Fi speed has also been increased to maximum 1.2Gbps for both Download and Upload, along with the increased LTE speed 2.0Gbps for the Download and 150Mbps for Upload. All the three Galaxy S10, S10+ and S10e phones are both water and dust resistant.

There are four to six colours available for the three models, including the Prism White, Prism Black, Prism Green, and Prism Blue, which are common for all the three Galaxy phones. The Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10e will be available for preorders from February 21, while the devices will become available in stores and online beginning March 8, 2019. The price range for Galaxy S10 starts at $899.99, for Galaxy S10+ starts from $999.99 and for Galaxy S10e starts from $749.99.

Germany Receives the Stable Android Pie Update for Samsung Galaxy 9 & 9 Plus

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Christmas has just ended well and with that Samsung has announced that the company is rolling out the Android Pie updates for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ users from some countries of Europe. SamMobile reported that the company has started to release the updates in Germany, and later, Samsung announced that the users from countries like Netherlands and Slovakia are also going to get the new Android Pie updates.

Samsung-Galaxy
Image Source: thenerdmag.com

The release has occurred way ahead of its decided date, that was in the late January in 2019, alongside the release of the same update for the Galaxy Note 9. The Android update is a stable update and not the beta one. Right now it is only available in a few countries in Europe.

Earlier this month, Samsung had released the beta version of Android Pie for its Galaxy S9 and S9+ users in UK, France, Poland, and Germany. The users who are having Samsung Experience UX based on Android Oreo, as well as those with the One UI beta on top of Android Pie, are receiving the update, along with the Samsung’s One UI version 1.0. One UI is basically created for the users so that they can easily use the apps on their big screen phones.

The update will change the software version for Galaxy S9+ to G965FXXU2CRLI, and the software for Galaxy S9 will be G960FXXU2CRLI. The size of the update software is around 1.7GB, which is available for download on the Samsung’s download servers. The users can check the availability of updates on the S9/Plus phones from the Software Update option in the settings of their phone.

The early release of the update indicates that Samsung is getting ready for some tough competition in the upcoming year. Although the update had to roll out for every S9 and S9+ users, all around the world, only a few will enjoy it before it gets officially released in January 2019. Till then, we can evaluate the difference between the earlier and the latest Android version on the basis of the feedback from the European Galaxy S9 and S9+ users.

Samsung’s $300 Bixby Smart Speaker to be Launched by the End of the Year

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Samsung Galaxy Home Speaker
Image Source: hiconsumption.com

Following the lead of its rivals, Apple, Microsoft and Google, Samsung has announced the launch of its new smart speaker Galaxy Home powered by Bixby. Bixby was released by Samsung last year, which is a voice robot embedded in a few of the smartphones and home appliances of Samsung, which is similar to the Google assistant and Apple’s infamous Siri. The automated smart speaker by Samsung will provide a surround sound and can be controlled manually or by voice commands.

1. Design: Since the announcement of the Galaxy Home speaker there has been a chaos about the look of the speakers. Some have compared it with a witch’s cauldron, a fondue pot and also with a backyard grill. It has a three-legged stand and is equipped with eight far-field microphones, to take the commands from the user. It has full-range speakers and an onboard subwoofer for surround sound, with a sound steering and audio tuning by AKG. The size of the Galaxy Home is considerably space-age and larger than Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa.

2. Cost: As Galaxy Home is competing with its contemporaries Google, Apple and Amazon, that are already are at the higher end of the prices ranging from $250 to $400. The price of Samsung Galaxy Home is yet be announced but is expected to be around $300. Before galaxy Home, Samsung has launched the Alexa-powered Samsung VL350 that cost $250.

Samsung is ready to give a tough competition to its competitors now in the music and speaker industry. Also, it has announced a partnership with Spotify and will add the live music streaming to Galaxy Home. The other features, launch date and the price of the Galaxy Home smart speakers will be announced in its Developer’s conference in the November month of this year, until then we can only guess what it will bring different from other smart speakers.

Features of Freshly Launched Samsung Galaxy Note 9

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Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Image Source: theverge.com

After the launch of Android Pie on 7 August 2018, now Samsung has come up with the launch of its flagship Smartphone, addition to its Samsung Galaxy 9 family. The smartphone was launched at the Barclays Center in New York. The online booking of the phone is already started and will be available in the market from the 24 August 2018. It is the last member of the Samsung Galaxy 9 family and costlier than the previous editions of the Samsung phones. The cost for the 128GB / 6GB RAM model will start from $999 (Appro. INR 68000) and 512GB / 8GB RAM version for $1,250. (Appro. INR 86000) Yes, you read it right. I don’t know what attracted your attention more the price or space, but both are too high. Along with the increased space, Samsung has launched its new baby with the following features added to it:

Look, Size & Color: The new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is quite a colourful range including Midnight Black, Metallic Copper, Ocean Blue, and Lavender Purple. The famous S Pens of the Note series are of the same colours as the phone, except the Ocean Blue phone is having a yellow stylus. Now talking about the look of the phone, likewise, Note 9 is no different than the Galaxy 8 and 9 series which is a disappointment, but, the size of this phone is little bigger comparatively.

Camera Added With New AI Features: Except the new AI features embedded in it, its camera is no different from the Note S9 camera. It still has the 8-megapixel selfie camera, with the dual 12-megapixel camera on the back. But AI has enabled it to detect what you actually need to capture and bring that thing into focus. It has also got a Flaw Detection feature that prompts when there is a flaw in the captured image, like the blink of the eye. Also, it has got a scene optimizer to adjust the white balance, saturation and contrast. Also, it can identify 20 scenarios like snowflakes, fire, food, pets, sunsets, plants, cityscapes, etc.

Bluetooth Stylus: The Note 9 SPen is all similar to the other SPens of the Note series with an addition of Bluetooth to it. With the help of the Bluetooth, the Stylus is turned into a remote control which can be used to click pictures, slide the presentations, play/pause your music apps and also, you can use it to open any app by creating a shortcut for the apps.

DeX software embedded to Note 9: Now this time the DeX software resides inside the Note 9 phone itself, so you can connect the phone to monitor independently using a USB, for the desktop-experience without a dock.

Samsung has claimed to replace the laptops with their Galaxy Note 9 by including with a high-performance processor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and battery is also bigger than before i.e. 4,000-mAh. The position of its Fingerprint reader has also moved to below the camera whereas it was on the side of the camera in the S8 and S9 series. Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will be the last of its series as Samsung has announced the launch of Galaxy S10 by the month of March next year. Till then Note 9 will be their latest innovation of 2018. Though it is on the high end due to its price maybe it will be able to grab customers with its new features.

Story of Lee Byung-chul- Founder of Samsung

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An entrepreneur is a person who has a vision that could change millions of lives and help the country grow economically at the same time. This vision brings creative ideas and creates employment opportunities helping the society prosper.

Countries like USA, China, India, South Korea and many more have made a significant contribution to the global industrial sector. When it comes to electronics and plastic market, China tops the list, top apparel, software and hardware brands are from US and South Korea is famous for electronics and automobiles industry. One man from South Korea changed the entire electronics and smartphones market when his company called Samsung came to the market with their world changing technology. The founder Lee Byung-chul’s Samsung has seen many crests and troughs all these years and today stands as a symbol of growth, innovation, and prosperity.

Early Life
Born on 12th February, 1910 in Uiryeong County in South Korea Lee was the only son of a wealthy family. His family was of landowners and left behind huge wealth for him to inherit. Chull attended Waseda University in Tokyo but left his degree incomplete. Initially, he used his inherited wealth to start a rice mill. Although he dedicated himself in this first business it failed to float and sunk without generating any major profits.
Lee Byung-chul
After the failure of his first business Chul established an export business in Daegu on 1st March, 1938 and named the company Samsung Trading Co. The company exported varieties of goods and eatables like fish, vegetables, and fruits to the regions of China. The company saw a major boom in growth as it was supplying goods throughout Korea and even to other countries by 1945. The company was then shifted to Seoul in 1947. Samsung Trading Co. was considered to be one of the ten largest trading companies during that time. But, Chul had to face another difficulty. This time, the war. As the war broke out Chul had to shift his company to a safer location in Busan around 1950.

But this shifting came as a boon for Chul. The massive influx of US army troops and the military equipment boosted his trucking business for the next year and a half. Chul also started a sugar refinery which saw the light of success quite early. After the war, he went on to set up a wool factory in 1954 in Daegu which later became the largest wool factory in the country. As the business was growing Chul ventured into various other sectors like finance, insurance, retail, and security.

Chul had a strong belief in industrialization and wanted Samsung group to become leader in every sector. It was in the 1960s that Samsung ventured into electronics industry to take over the market just like other sectors. Samsung focused on creating innovative products and soon the company released their first product – a black and white television. By the mid and late 1960s Samsung already had six divisions focused on departments like semiconductors, telecommunications, hardware, etc.

Success in the Electronics Business
In 1980, Samsung acquired Hanguk Jeonja Tongsin, a major company in telecommunications. This was the same year when the company had its own electronics division under Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. unit. The company then started producing telephones, fax machines, and various other electronic devices on a large-scale.

The founder of Samsung, Lee Byung Chul, died on 19th November, 1987 in Seoul, South Korea. But the company kept following his philosophy of large-scale expansion. The company expanded as never before setting up their plants in New York, Texas, London, etc. Samsung’s construction company garnered major projects including that of the Burj Khalifa in Malaysia.

Major Successes
Samsung raced on the top of the list as the number one memory chip production company in the whole world in 1992. Soon it also acquired second position, just behind Intel, in the chip-making industry. The year of 1995 came with a huge success as Samsung made first LCD screen revolutionizing the television hardware industry.

Samsung accounts for 15% of South Korea’s GDP (as of 2012). In the same year the company’s total revenue was a whopping $265 billion and earned profits of $26 billion. Samsung has employed over 425,000 people providing a good life for people all over the world.