Samsung and HARMAN collaborate for new entertainment and marketing solutions

Samsung acquired US-based HARMAN late last year for its automotive electronics, IoT, and audio technologies. Now, the companies have announced that they’re collaborating for new entertainment and marketing solutions, which includes signage board equipments.

The new solutions include hotel systems where clients can control things like curtains and other facilities in the room using Samsung’s motion sensor and HARMAN’s voice recognition capabilities. Samsung’s display prowess and HARMAN’s audio expertise can help theatres in better serving the audience.

The two companies have decided to collaborate to create solutions for education, hospitality, marketing, retail, and transportation. These new solutions are expected to hit the market starting this month. Samsung recently displayed its new QLED and LCD-based signage and display advertising solutions at an expo last month.

Industry experts say that HARMAN’s revenue is expected to show up in Samsung’s sheets in the second quarter of this year since the deal completed in March 2017. The company had included HARMAN’s performance in its first quarter report but didn’t mention its earnings separately.

Samsung also mentioned that HARMAN will operate independently, but both companies will collaborate whenever necessary.

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Samsung’s Galaxy named the most valuable brand in Korea for seven years in a row

Samsung has been churning out impressive smartphones year after year, and 2017 was no exception. The South Korean firm released the awe-inspiring Galaxy S8 and S8+, which received accolades from experts and consumers alike. Now, the company’s Galaxy brand has been named the most valuable in Korea for seven years in a row.

The Galaxy brand retained its top spot in a consumer survey conducted by Brandstock, a South Korean market research firm. It received a brand index reading of 940.98 points out of a possible 1,000 points. Emart, a discount store chain, and Naver, an Internet portal, were second and third, respectively as per the survey’s results. Samsung’s apartment brand Samsung C&T jumped 26 points to the 33rd position.

The Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ won the ‘Best Smartphone’ award at MWC 2017 Shanghai a few days ago. The company impressively turned around its brand name after the whole Galaxy Note 7 fiasco from last year. Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 7 Fan Edition yesterday, and it is reportedly planning to unveil the Galaxy Note 8 sometime late in August.

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Samsung cuts is workforce for the first time in seven years

Recent data shows that Samsung has cut its workforce for the first time in seven years, which is a result of its restructuring efforts in China. The total number of employees of the world’s largest electronics brand fell 5.2% from 325,677 in 2015 to 308,745 in 2016.

The number of Samsung employees in Korea fell 3.8% to 93,204 and the numbers abroad fell 5.8% to 215,541. Interestingly, the number of Samsung employees in China fell a whopping 17.5% to 37,070 last year, but the number increased in North and South American markets surged 8.5% to 25,988.

According to a company official, Samsung’s manpower fell in Korea due to to the sale of its printing business to HP. The company did a corporate restructuring at its factories in China and other Asian markets as well, which led to an overseas manpower cut.

The female employee ratio at Samsung fell 2% to 44% last year, but the number of female managers and executives rose from 12.4% and 4.5%, respectively, to 12.7% and 6.3% last year. Samsung reportedly has 2,468 co-operative business partners across the globe.

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Galaxy S8+ reportedly no longer outselling Galaxy S8 in the US

A new report from Wave7 Research provides information about smartphone sales for the month of June 2017 at wireless retailers in the United States. Samsung’s new flagship has reportedly lost the momentum that was seen in the early days after the handset’s launch, but that was to be expected, since most people who were absolutely sure about buying this handset have picked one up already.

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ were off to a great start after they were unveiled in late March. Samsung was quick to report that pre-orders for the new handsets were outperforming pre-orders for Samsung’s previous flagships in the United States. It seemed clear that Samsung had a hit on its hands, one that it desperately needed after the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco of 2016.

Sales at retailers in the United States continued to remain strong in the subsequent weeks after the handset was released in April. T-Mobile’s long-running buy-one-get-one-free promotion helped sustain the numbers as well.

Wave7′s Jeffrey More writes in a note to subscribers that while the Galaxy S8+ was outselling the Galaxy S8 initially, the smaller model is now leading its larger sibling as far as sales at US wireless retailers are concerned.

He also points out that Samsung’s overall smartphone sales have slowed down in June compared to the iPhone due to low demand for last year’s flagship. “The GS7 and GS7 Edge are fading from the scene surprisingly quickly,” he writes.

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Galaxy S8 Active stops by the FCC

We confirmed a couple of months back that Samsung is working on the Galaxy S8 Active codenamed Cruiser for AT&T. Since then, the handset has been spotted on benchmarking websites multiple times and it has also received its Wi-Fi certification. The Galaxy S8 Active has now stopped by the FCC.

A stop at the Federal Communications Commission of the United States is normally taken as a big indication that an unreleased device is on its way. Samsung is certainly due to launch the Active variant of its new flagship smartphone so it’s possible that an official announcement may not be that far off.

As far as the specifications are concerned, the Galaxy S8 Active may feature an Exynos 8895 processor with 4GB of RAM. It may feature a 5.8-inch flat AMOLED display and a bigger battery. The handset will be built to the MIL-STD-810G for extra durability.

It’s basically going to be a more durable version of the Galaxy S8 with a flat display instead of the curved Infinity Display. Since previous Active handsets have had bigger batteries, that remains a possibility of this handset as well.

It’s unclear how much the Galaxy S8 Active is going to cost and when it’s going to arrive, but like its predecessors, it’s going to be exclusive to AT&T in the United States.

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Galaxy C7 (2017) gets its Wi-Fi certification

The Galaxy C7 was launched in June last year so it’s about time that Samsung came out with its successor. We’ve been hearing reports about a Galaxy C7 (2017) that’s in the pipeline. The upcoming handset received its Bluetooth certification two weeks ago and it has now stopped by the Wi-Fi Alliance for yet another certification.

The Galaxy C7 (2017) bearing model number SM-C7100 has been spotted at the Wi-Fi Alliance. It has been granted the requisite Wi-Fi certification which means that it’s now one step closer to launch. As previously mentioned, the handset has already received its Bluetooth certification so that’s out of the way as well.

Not much is known about the specs of this handset. Its predecessor was a bona fide mid-range smartphone with its Snapdragon 625 processor, 4GB RAM, 32/64GB storage and 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display. It also features a 16-megapixel rear and 8-megapixel front camera.

Samsung initially launched this handset in China and that’s what it will probably do with the new handset as well. The possibility exists that Samsung might eventually launch the Galaxy C7 (2017) in other markets across the globe.

Since the month of June has gone by and it has been over a year since the original handset was released, it should only be a matter of time before the Galaxy C7 (2017) is made official.

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Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition is official, goes on sale in South Korea on July 7

The Note 7 is back. Well, it’s called the Galaxy Note Fan Edition now, but Samsung has finally made the refurbished Note 7 official. The Galaxy Note FE will go on sale in South Korea on July 7 with a price tag of 699,600 won (roughly $610), and color options of gold, silver, blue, and black. Samsung has used leftover Galaxy Note 7 parts and unopened units of the original device to make the Galaxy Note FE. The battery is smaller at 3,200 mAh, but this is the same device that met an unfortunate demise last year as far as hardware specs are concerned.

Samsung says the battery on the Note FE has been made safer through the company’s new 8-point battery safety test, and if the Galaxy S8′s track record is anything to go by, the Note FE should have no issues keeping its cool. Oh, and the Note FE also runs Nougat with all the bells and whistles that are offered on the Galaxy S8. The device also has Bixby, although there seems to be no dedicated hardware button if we go by Samsung’s official pictures, so Bixby will likely be launched through an app shortcut and maybe through the S Pen’s Air Command menu as well. Oh, and there’s a neat change: The Note FE doesn’t have Samsung’s logo at the front, and it comes with a Galaxy Note Fan Edition logo at the back.

For now, Samsung is only aiming to sell 400,000 units of the Note FE in South Korea. The press release says the company hasn’t yet decided if the phone should be sold in other markets, but we should see related information in the near future. It doesn’t make much sense to make the Galaxy Note FE widely available, given the Galaxy Note 8 will soon be upon us, although given the Note 8′s expected pricing, the Note FE could certainly do well as a more affordable option in the Note lineup.

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