Samsung shuts down PC plant in Suzhou China to focus on R&D

Samsung has decided to shut down its PC assembly and manufacturing plant in Suzhou, China, and will refocus its resources towards research and development, according to a recent report citing a staff notice that was later confirmed by Samsung. The letter revealed that with the exception of employees at the research and development department, all others’ employment contracts will be affected. The decision was made in an effort to enhance efficiency across [Samsung’s] global production bases.

This effectively means that Samsung is laying off around 1,700 employees who have been working at the Suzhou plant since 2019. According to the report, the local labour department supports Samsung’s decision and will help affected staff with finding new jobs. This will hopefully pan out, as we’ve seen what can happen in the wake of Samsung shutting down a large manufacturing facility.

If you recall, last year Samsung had shut down its last smartphone factory in Huizhou, China, and the company’s departure had left a big mark on the region. The city became a ghost town as Samsung’s leave disrupted the local economy, from small businesses such as restaurants to local component suppliers that have set shop with the goal of supplying the Korean tech giant.

However, the Huizhou smartphone manufacturing plant existed since 1992 and had created an entire ecosystem around it, whereas the Suzhou PC assembly and manufacturing facility first became operational in 2002. The city of Suzhou also has twice the population of Huizhou, meaning that Samsung’s decision to shut down its PC plant shouldn’t leave that big-of-a-mark on the city’s economy.

It’s also worth noting that Samsung operates other facilities in Suzhou, including an LCD manufacturing plant that may end up being shut down or repurposed as Samsung Display seeks to end production of all LCD panels by the end of 2020.

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Benchmark confirms the Korean Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has Snapdragon SoC

The Exynos 990-powered Galaxy Note 20 Ultra bearing model number SM-N986B got exposed in a benchmark listing earlier today, and hours later, the South Korean version of the same device, carrying model number SM-N986N had turned up on Geekbench as well. The more recent entry confirms a previous report about Samsung treating the South Korean Galaxy Note 20 series same as it did the Galaxy S20 lineup. In other words, customers in South Korea will get the Snapdragon-powered variant instead of the Exynos 990 chipset.

Samsung is looking past the humiliation felt by the System LSI division when the company decided to fit the Galaxy S20 series with a Qualcomm chipset over the in-house Exynos solution in its home country. The company is seemingly maintaining the same path it stepped on earlier this year and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in South Korea will be powered by the Snapdragon 865+ chipset as a result.

No surprise, there’s a difference in synthetic benchmark performance

As we’ve mentioned before, synthetic benchmark scores don’t tell the whole story or reflect real-world performance with perfect accuracy, but the benchmark results at hand are unsurprising to say the least. The Snapdragon 865+ Galaxy Note 20 Ultra performs better than the Exynos 990 variant in Geekbench 5 in both single-core and especially multi-core tests.

And if benchmark figures aren’t a good-enough clue that the Exynos 990 Galaxy Note 20 models are likely to be lagging behind the Snapdragon 865+ variants, the fact that Samsung opted for the Snapdragon-powered S Pen flagship in its home country speaks volumes.

Perhaps those rumored optimizations do exist and the Exynos 990 SoC inside the Galaxy Note 20 will run cooler and perform better than it does under the hood of the Galaxy S20. But even so, Samsung doesn’t seem to have much confidence in its own chipset if it will replace it with a Qualcomm solution in its home country of all places.

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I’m sorry, but Samsung’s foldable phone naming strategy is laughably bad

Galaxy Z Fold, Galaxy Z Fold 2, Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Flip, Galaxy Z Flip 2, Galaxy Z Flip 3, Galaxy Z Flip 4. Try saying that sentence quickly, and tell me whether those names flow off your tongue as easily as something like Galaxy S1, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note 4.

I’m assuming you’re suddenly wondering how Samsung came up with the surprisingly bad naming scheme for its foldable phones, just like I have been in recent days as we move closer to the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 2. Of course, no one out there will ever take the names of all those phones one after the other in real life, but I think you get the point I’m trying to put across.

Six syllable names for a phone aren’t a great idea

When the Galaxy Fold launched last year, we assumed Samsung would simply start adding a number at the end for each new foldable phone. We’d get the Galaxy Fold 2, Galaxy Fold 3, Galaxy Fold 4, and so on. Then the Galaxy Z Flip arrived, and Samsung decided to put all its foldables under the Galaxy Z umbrella.

The Galaxy Fold is still the Galaxy Fold, but its upcoming sequel is going to be called Galaxy Z Fold 2, an annoyingly long and ill-conceived moniker. Then, next year, provided Samsung is still making foldables (let’s face it, the company’s got excellent products and a solid lead in the foldable market to even think about stopping), we’ll get the Galaxy Z Flip 2, followed by the Galaxy Z Fold 3.

Galaxy S and Galaxy Note are two easy to pronounce and fairly cool sounding names. Frankly, so are Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold. The problem arises when you start adding a number at the end, at which point they become the opposite of cool. Samsung’s idea behind choosing the letter Z for its foldable series was that it “intuitively communicates the idea of a fold while delivering a dynamic, youthful feel,” but I don’t think the company put enough thought into it when deriving this particular naming strategy.

To be fair, I don’t really have any ideas to offer of my own, except that maybe Samsung should have stuck with Galaxy Fold or Galaxy Flip for its book-like and clamshell foldable phone lineups. However, I don’t get paid to think up fancy names for consumer products, while I’m sure there’s a whole team making money doing just that over at Samsung’s headquarters, and they really should have done a better job.

What do you think? Do you think Samsung’s current naming scheme for its foldables is fine? If you had the choice, what would you call them? Let me know down in the comments!

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Galaxy Note 10/10+ now receiving August 2020 Android security update

Select Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+ models are already receiving the new Android security update dated August 1st, 2020. The rollout began on Wednesday with the international variant of the Galaxy Note 10+ (SM-N975F). It still appears to be limited to Germany, but with August being just around the corner, Samsung will likely ramp up its deployment efforts in a matter of days.

The August 2020 Android security update for the Galaxy Note 10 series is identified by build number N97xFXXS6CTGA. No other changes or additions are part of this over-the-air release.

First year of Galaxy Note 10 updates is behind us

As always, you can attempt to initiate a manual installation by launching the Settings app, navigating to its Software update subsection, and then tapping the Download and install option which will greet you on the following interface. Alternatively, just wait for a notification prompting you to download the OTA release, assuming you haven’t previously disabled auto-updates on your device. Full system images from Samsung will also be available for download from SamMobile‘s firmware archive shortly after they’re released.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Note series is scheduled for its annual refresh on Wednesday, which is when Samsung will be officially announcing the Galaxy Note 20 range. The new smartphones have already been in a mass-production phase for a while now, so if you end up being among their early adopters, there’s no guarantee they’ll be running this particular security patch out of the box. However, it’s essentially a guarantee the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra will at the very least be able to download the August 1st update from day one.

Galaxy Note 10

• Model: SM-N970F
• Dimensions: Bar: 151.0 x 71.8 x 7.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.3 inch / 160.02 mm Dynamic AMOLED Display
• CPU: Exynos 9825
• Camera: 16MP

More specifications

Galaxy Note 10+

• Model: SM-N975F
• Dimensions: Bar: 162.3 x 77.2 x 7.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.8 inch / 172.72 mm Dynamic AMOLED Display
• CPU: Exynos 9825
• Camera: 16MP

More specifications

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Samsung launches UV Sterilizer with wireless charging in India

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Samsung had unveiled its new UV Sterilizer for smartphones and other accessories last month. Initially, it was Thailand, but the company announced that it would bring the device to more markets around the world. Today, the South Korean firm has announced the launch of UV Sterilizer with wireless charging in India.

Samsung’s UV Sterilizer with wireless charging is priced at INR 3,599 (around $48) in India. It will be available through all retail channels in India starting early August 2020. It will also be available for purchase from Samsung’s official online store.

The company’s new UV Sterilizer is made by Samsung C&T, a partner of the Samsung Mobile Accessory Partnership Program (SMAPP). It is designed to disinfect your smartphone, smartwatch, wireless earphones, and everything that can fit inside the sterilizer within 10 minutes using two UV lights. The accessory also wirelessly charges Qi-compatible devices at 10W.

The South Korean firm mentions that bacteria and germs like E. coli, Staphylococcus Aureus, and Candida Albicans can also be killed using its device. The company claims that tests done by two independent certification institutes show that its sterilizer can effectively kill up to 99% bacteria and germs.

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Could Samsung launch the original Galaxy Fold in new colors soon?

Here’s something interesting: Samsung might introduce two cancelled color options of the original Galaxy Fold. When the Galaxy Fold was announced last year, four color options were made official: Space Silver, Cosmos Black, Martian Green and Astro Blue. Then, things went awry and the device had to be delayed for a few months. When the Fold eventually released in September after going through a few design changes for enhanced durability, Samsung only offered it in Space Silver and Cosmos Black.

However, as Max Weinbach discovered, at least the Samsung US website is now listing the Galaxy Fold in green and blue and the silver and black versions are nowhere to be found. And when we reached out to our sources, we were told that Samsung is indeed planning to launch the 5G Galaxy Fold in metallic green and blue in select markets like Korea. Naturally, we’re left scratching our heads, as there’s no conceivable reason to bring new color options for a device that’s set to get a yearly refresh soon, at least not without a price cut to go along with it.

This is the first time we’re hearing about the original Fold getting new colors almost a year after it hit retail shelves, but if that’s actually happening, we guess we could learn more at Samsung’s upcoming Unpacked launch, where the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Z Fold 2 will be unveiled alongside new flagship tablets and wearables.

Would you purchase a Galaxy Fold here in 2020 if it launched in new colors, even though the Galaxy Z Fold 2 will also be available for purchase in a few weeks?

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Galaxy S10 helps in rescuing stranded Australian couple after boat overturns

Most high-end Galaxy smartphones from Samsung come with an IP67/68 rating for dust and water resistance. This feature can be quite handy not only in everyday scenarios but also in emergency cases. Recently, an Australian couple who were stranded off the coast were rescued with the help of the Galaxy S10.

The incident took place off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Jessica and Lindsay were enjoying a trip on their family boat 38km off the coast of Cairns, Queensland. The location is known for its iconic Great Barrier Reef. When a mishap took place, and their boat’s motor got entangled with the anchor rope, they fell in the water and were swept off by waves. Their boat got overturned, leaving them no time to grab their lifejackets or Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB).

Jessica, however, was able to grab her Galaxy S10 and used the emergency service to contact the emergency service via phone and text after the boat capsized. After speaking with the local chief of police, they shared screenshots of their location using GPS and Google Maps. The information helped the helicopter and boat emergency teams in finding the couple. Since it was dark, they used the Galaxy S10’s LED flashlight to guide the rescue teams.

Before the rescue, the couple stayed in the water for hours. They had concerns about the nearby marine wildlife as they had spotted a six-foot shark right before their boat capsized. This incident showed not only the importance of safety but also the Galaxy S10’s endurance, even in unusual situations. Jessica’s Galaxy S10 is still functioning normally even after staying in salty seawater.

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