Samsung plans to revamp its midrange smartphone lineup in India

Samsung may be staring at complete decimation in the Chinese smartphone market, but the company is doing reasonably well in India. After briefly losing the momentum to Xiaomi for a few quarters, the company fought back hard with the refreshed Galaxy J series models to regain some of the lost market and mindshare in Q2 this year.

Though Samsung has addressed concerns about its budget segment devices to an extent, the company’s midrange smartphones still continue to struggle against the better-specced offerings from Chinese brands. Samsung is aware of the problem and is planning to change the situation soon by launching more compelling midrange options in the next quarter (October – December).

During an interaction with the press after the Galaxy Note 9 launch event in India, DJ Koh, CEO of Samsung’s Mobile Division, said, “Since February this year, I have changed my strategy for the Indian market as the competition got tough and terrain harsh. We dominated in some areas while struggle in some during the course. You will now see devices coming from us in the mid-segment space with flagship features and functionalities that will delight our customers in India.”

Plans to launch smart devices as well

Interestingly, Koh also spoke about launching a wide range of smart devices in the Indian market. He said, “I am building a complete ecosystem of smart devices for the millennials in India. We are not concerned about the sales numbers but focus on creating a trust bond with our customers and partners in the country where we are the leader for years.”

To what extent Koh’s strategy and confidence materialize into sought-after products will be revealed in a couple of months. For now, it is clear Samsung India has aggressive plans for the last quarter of this year. Even the Galaxy Note 9’s pricing is the same as the Galaxy Note 8’s for the base model in the country, helped partly by the fact that Samsung assembles smartphones locally in India.

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Samsung was the third largest R&D spender in 2017, says Ernst & Young

A report of the top 500 R&D spenders in 2017 by Ernst & Young has placed Samsung Electronics third on the list. The Korean company invested 13.1 billion euros into R&D, which was below Amazon’s 20.1 billion euros and Alphabet’s (Google’s parent company) 14.8 billion euros – the top two firms in the rankings, respectively. Chipmaker Intel came in fourth with 11.6 billion euros in R&D investments.

If you are looking at Samsung’s figure and wondering about the absence of any path-breaking innovation in its Galaxy lineup, do realize it is the total R&D spend in 2017 by Samsung Electronics as a whole and not just the mobile division. Even if a sizeable part of that money went into mobile devices, it is not necessary the results are immediately visible or at all due to the nature of R&D.

No break up of Samsung’s R&D spending

None of the coverage online offers any breakup of the Samsung’s R&D spending, but if we go by the past trends and Samsung’s revenue breakup, it is safe to guess the company’s semiconductor division might have invested the most into R&D.

The total R&D spending by the top 500 firms went up by 6% to 532 billion euros in 2017. 65% of these businesses increased their R&D spending in 2017 compared to the previous year. American firms dominated the list with 127 out of the top 500 and 7 of the top ten firms belonging to the US.

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Samsung’s new Exynos i S111 IoT chip can communicate over long distances with very little power

Being a dominant force in the semiconductor market, Samsung sees a huge potential in the IoT space. The company has been launching many IoT-specific solutions to cater to a wide range of customers and use cases. The newest in these launches is the Exynos i S111 NB-IoT chip that can communicate over long distances with very little power.

IoT devices in confined spaces rely on connectivity standards like Bluetooth and ZigBee for transferring data. They work well for short-range scenarios but are not fit for long-range IoT connectivity, which is where the NB (Narrowband)-IoT comes into the picture. NB-IoT is a low-power 3GPP connectivity standard for transferring small amounts of data reliably, securely and power efficiently over long distances.

As an NB-IoT solution, Samsung’s Exynos i S111 chip combines wide coverage, low-power, accurate location info, and security to make it suitable for long-range IoT scenarios. It packs a modem, processor, memory, and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) into a single chip for efficiency and flexibility in manufacturing.

The Exynos i S111 IoT solution boasts long standby times

The Exynos i S111 can cover distances of 10 kilometers or more by sipping very little power. The chip boasts long standby times through power saving mode (PSM) and expanded discontinuous reception (eDRX) that can keep the device dormant for ten years or more under certain conditions. The modem inside is capable of transmitting data at 127 kbps for downlink and 158kbps uplink, which is more than enough for IoT use cases.

“IoT will be able to evolve to offer new features beyond the conventional household space with IoT-dedicated solutions that present a broad range of opportunities. Exynos i S111’s highly secure and efficient communication capabilities will bring more exciting NB-IoT applications to life,” said Ben Hur, VP, System LSI Marketing, Samsung Electronics.

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A new video from Samsung shows how the Galaxy Note 9 is made in its factories

The Galaxy Note 9 may be an incremental upgrade, but it still packs a ton of tech inside. It has specs that are comparable to even many laptops. Yet, all of this comes in a sleek and shiny package that fits into your pocket. Have you ever wondered how Samsung makes millions of these sophisticated devices with such finesse and consistency?

Samsung has posted a video offering a sneak peek into the steps and processes involved in making the Galaxy Note 9 in its factories. The first thing that is evident from this brief factory tour is the extent of automation involved in making the new Note device (or any modern-day smartphone). Perhaps, it is what makes these devices so polished, consistent, and mostly defect-free.

Galaxy Note 9 goes on sale tomorrow

Unfortunately, the video is not very long and doesn’t go into any details about the steps and automation involved, but it still offers a glimpse of the whole process.

The Galaxy Note 9 goes on sale tomorrow in many markets around the world. You can read our review of the device to know what the latest flagship from Samsung brings to the table.

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