Galaxy Note 10+ 5G gets standalone 5G support on T-Mobile’s network

T-Mobile is now rolling out a new software update to the Galaxy Note 10+ 5G on its network. Apart from the August 2020 security patch, the new update brings support for the carrier’s standalone 5G network to the smartphone. It means that users would get higher quality 5G and better 5G signal strength on their Galaxy Note 10+ 5G.

The new software update carries firmware version N976USQU3BTI5 and is about 395MB in size. It also brings a new disclaimer for location services and additional improvements to the phone’s security and stability. If you’re a Galaxy Note 10+ 5G user on T-Mobile’s network, you can check for the update by navigating to Settings » Software update on your device and tapping on Download and install.

T-Mobile launched its standalone 5G network in the US last month. Galaxy Note 10+ 5G users had access to the carrier’s 600MHz 5G, but the access still relied heavily on mid-band LTE signals. It meant that 5G was limited to the range of 4G signals. With the new update, the smartphone gets access to standalone 5G and customers can get lower latency and higher signal strength inside buildings.

Last year, T-Mobile launched the Galaxy Note 10 and the Galaxy Note 10+ 5G on its network and then released the Android 10 update to the two phones one month later. The previous software update for the Galaxy Note 10+ 5G brought the July 2020 security patch. Have you received the new update yet? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Samsung wins 48 design awards at IDEA 2020

Samsung has announced that it has won a whopping 48 IDEA 2020 design awards. These are the most influential design awards in North America, and they’re hosted annually by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) since 1980. The company won one Best-in-Show award, one Gold award, four Silver awards, and four Bronze awards in the competition.

The South Korean tech giant won IDEA 2020 awards in various categories, including cooking range, foldable smartphones, IoT, refrigerators, product packaging, smart TVs, and software UX. This shows that Samsung’s products and services offer creative, cutting-edge, and sustainable designs.

Samsung’s BESPOKE Family Hub refrigerator and its UX won the Best-in-Show awards for delivering user-centric experience and innovation. It offers not only connectivity with mobile apps and remote access, but also allows sharing images and recipes through the refrigerator’s screen. The BESPOKE refrigerator won the Silver award for its customizable modular design. Customers can choose the color and material to customize their refrigerator as per their liking.

The company also won the Silver award for its upcycling solution for its TV packaging. The Frame, The Serif, and The Sero TVs from Samsung come with customizable packaging that can be turned into showpieces for homes. The packaging had also won the design award at CES 2020. Samsung’s 8K QLED TV Q950TS also won the Silver IDEA 2020 award for its bezel-less design. The Serif Visual Identity System also won the Silver award.

Last year’s Galaxy Fold won the Bronze award for its foldable design. The company’s Infinity Line Oven, The Sero Visual Identity System, and inclusive IoT products won Bronze awards as well. The IDEA 2020 ceremony was held virtually on September 16, and the design conference is being held virtually for two days: September 17 and September 18.

Dontae Lee, Executive Vice President and the Head of Corporate Design Center at Samsung Electronics, said, “Design increasingly values interaction between products and user experiences. Samsung will continue to provide meaningful customer experiences and sustainable values with innovative technologies and differentiated designs.”

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Samsung Galaxy M51 review: Great specs for the price, but limited software

With the Galaxy M51, Samsung’s Galaxy M series is leaving the land of lower mid-range smartphones behind and making a play for the big leagues. Samsung is no longer keeping M series handsets confined to the sub-$300 segment, and with the M51, the company is offering a spec sheet similar to that of the Galaxy A71’s but with a monstrous 7,000 mAh battery added to the mix, all at a more attractive asking price.

All recent Galaxy M phones have been fantastic value for money – does the Galaxy M51 have what it takes to carry that momentum forward? Let’s find out in this review.

Galaxy M51 design

The Galaxy M51’s design is easily its weakest part, because Samsung is using the same old boring-looking plastic back as it does on its cheapest M series phones, with no gradients or any other visual wizardry in place. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you’re someone who expects the look of a phone to be proportionate to its price tag, then the Galaxy M51 will not impress you. Still, other than the added weight because of the 7,000 mAh battery, the phone feels similar to other Galaxy phones with plastic rear panels – not cheap, not premium, but somewhere in between.

Speaking of weight, the Galaxy M51 is pretty chunky, though the phone’s battery life (more on that later) makes it easy to ignore the thicker and heavier profile. At the front, there’s a 6.7-inch Infinity-O Super AMOLED Plus display with a centered punch hole, meaning there are minimal bezels and the M51 looks similar to any other recent smartphone from Samsung. The fingerprint scanner is embedded in the power button and is ultra quick and accurate, as all capacitive fingerprint sensors are.

For those wondering, the Galaxy M51 has a headphone jack, though you won’t get a pair of earbuds in the box. You do get a 25W super fast charger, along with a USB-C to USB-C cable that can also be used to charge other phones using the M51 (this feature is available on all Android devices if you use a USB-C to USB-C cable and isn’t specific to the Galaxy M series).

Galaxy M51 display

All M series phones have beautiful AMOLED displays, and that hasn’t changed with the Galaxy M51. Its 6.7-inch display has lively colors, deep blacks, and high brightness levels. I did notice slightly deeper contrast on the M51 compared to the M31s, but otherwise, the viewing experience on all of these phones is great, and the M51 makes things better thanks to its larger screen. The camera punch hole is slightly larger here than it was on the Galaxy M31s, but unless you’re comparing the two side by side, that won’t bother you. In short, the display on the Galaxy M51 is excellent for all kinds of use cases.

Galaxy M51 cameras

The Galaxy M51 has a 64MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and 5MP macro and depth cameras at the back, and a 32MP front camera, same as the Galaxy A71. The main camera takes excellent daylight photos, with lots of detail, fairly wide dynamic range, and accurate color reproduction in most scenarios. Nighttime performance is also solid as long as there is plenty of artificial lighting around, while low-light pictures tend to be somewhat soft and noisy. Night mode comes to the rescue in such scenarios, and you can also manually control the shutter speed in Pro mode for even better results.

As for the ultra-wide, macro, depth and selfie cameras, I didn’t see any difference between the Galaxy M51 and Galaxy A71, so I’ll suggest looking at the latter’s review for more details. The M51 also has plenty of camera modes, including the nifty Single Take mode, Hyperlapse, Super Slow-mo, and Panorama. AR Emoji is included as well; you can also create custom filters based on existing photos with the My Filters feature. Video recording goes up to 4K resolution and quality is more than adequate – there’s sufficient detail and noise is controlled well, as long as it isn’t too dark.

Galaxy M51 performance

The Galaxy M51 is the second handset in the series to be powered by a Snapdragon processor (last year’s Galaxy M40 was the first). There’s a Snapdragon 730G under the hood, and it makes the M51 the fastest and smoothest Galaxy M phone yet. The Exynos 9610/9611 used in other devices in the series is good with gaming but can’t always keep the stutter out of general navigation and user interface animations.

The Snapdragon 730G has no such issues and barely ever allows the phone to slow down. Gaming performance is also better – I cranked all the graphical options in Call of Duty to max and saw very few frame rate drops. With the Exynos 9611, you need to stick to the default graphic settings to be able to get a smooth and consistent frame rate. PUBG should run similarly well, but with the game recently banned here in India, I was unable to test it for this review.

Galaxy M51 software

I feel Samsung has dropped the ball with the Galaxy M51’s software. It runs One UI 2.1 Core out of the box, and while you have many of the latest features, such as a built-in screen recorder and a full-fledged Pro camera mode, you miss out on both Samsung Pay and Samsung Pay Mini and features like Secure Folder. And it’s impossible to get them even with a software update because the M series phones lack Knox certification and are, therefore, not as secure as they need to be for those apps to be made available.

Previous M series phones were considerably cheaper, so it was easier to overlook the stripped-down software. Not so with the Galaxy M51. It’s also worth noting that the M51 will likely get only two major Android OS updates while the Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71 are promised three. We had expected that the software would keep step with the increasing price tags of Samsung’s Galaxy M devices, but that’s clearly not the case.

However, while it’s not the full package, the base One UI experience is also pretty great and has plenty of features. There’s the aforementioned screen recorder, themes support, Dual Messenger, One-handed mode, Always On Display, life-to-wake and double-tap-to-wake gestures, Dark mode, and the excellent Quick Share and Music Share introduced with the Galaxy S20 lineup earlier this year. For everything else, there’s always the Google Play Store and Samsung’s own Galaxy Store.

Galaxy M51 battery life

With a 7,000 mAh battery powering the M51, it should come as no surprise that this phone simply cannot be killed in a single day even with the heaviest of use. That holds true for both Wi-Fi and mobile data – I turned off Wi-Fi for an entire day and still had around 45% charge left after 24 hours. That’s not something you can say about a lot of phones. Idle drain is more or less non-existent thanks to the humongous battery capacity, and the best part is that charging is super quick as well.

The included 25W charger can top up the battery completely in a little under two hours. I plugged in the phone when it was down to 4%, and it went up to 36% in 30 minutes, 64% in 60 minutes, and 87% in 90 minutes. As cringy as it feels to repeat one of Samsung’s official marketing slogans, the Galaxy M51 really is a monster when it comes to battery endurance, and nothing else in Samsung’s galactically large smartphone lineup comes close.

Galaxy M51 audio and call quality

The single bottom-firing loudspeaker on the Galaxy M51 is not very loud – a positive side effect is that it never distorts, but that’s only if you follow the glass-half-full philosophy. You also don’t get earphones in the box, so you will have to use third-party ones. Dolby Atmos is included and helps increase stereo separation both over wired and Bluetooth earphones, and it’s perhaps the only saving grace when it comes to the audio experience on any M series phone, including the M51. Call quality is good as well, with no issues with network reception on either SIM slot.

Galaxy M51 verdict

On the hardware front, the Galaxy M51 is splendid and easily replaces the Galaxy A71, which was already an excellent phone, as the best upper mid-range device available from Samsung. The monstrous battery life makes it even better than the A71, in fact, and if the spec sheet is all that matters to you and the Galaxy M51 fits your budget, you can buy it with your eyes closed. You won’t regret it.

But the Galaxy A71 is still a superior choice if you want functionality like Samsung Pay. It is also one of only two mid-range phones Samsung has confirmed will get updates till Android 13, while the M51 is likely to get only security updates after Android 12. If you want more features and longer software support, saving up and getting a Galaxy A71 would be the more sensible thing to do.

Pros	Cons
Excellent 6.7-inch Infinity-O Super AMOLED Plus display	Low-light photos could be better
64MP camera takes great daylight photos, fairly good nighttime photos	Macro camera needs a higher-resolution sensor
Great performance from the Snapdragon 730G chipset	Speaker too quiet
Stupendous battery life, super fast charging	Limited software, no Samsung Pay support
Ultra quick side-mounted capacitive fingerprint scanner	Boring design
Solid pricing

 

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Galaxy S20 FE 5G leaks in all its glory, Snapdragon 865 confirmed

The Galaxy S20 Fan Edition is expected to be officially unveiled during Samsung’s ‘Galaxy Unpacked for Every Fan’ event on September 23. However, the phone’s design, color variants, and specifications were revealed via various leaks in the past. Now, Samsung’s complete webpage for the Galaxy S20 FE 5G has leaked.

Noted leakster Evan Blass published the complete product webpage of the Galaxy S20 FE 5G on his Patreon account (behind paywall) earlier today. The webpage talks about all the features of the upcoming smartphone along with all the color variants, camera specs, internal hardware, and battery capacity.

Galaxy S20 FE 5G features Snapdragon 865, 120Hz display, 4,500mAh battery

The Galaxy S20 FE 5G features a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED Infinity-O display with Full HD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The phone is IP68 certified for dust and water-resistant. It will be available in six colors: Cloud Navy, Cloud White, Cloud Pink, Cloud Red, Cloud Blue, and Cloud Gold. The webpage also confirms that the Galaxy S20 FE 5G uses the Snapdragon 865 processor, up to 8GB RAM, 128GB internal storage, and a microSD card slot (up to 1TB).

At the front, the phone features a 32MP selfie camera embedded into the punch-hole-shaped display cutout. At the rear, the Galaxy S20 FE 5G has a triple-camera setup, featuring a 12MP wide-angle camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and an 8MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. Samsung also talks about 30x Space Zoom, Night Mode, Single Take, and Super Steady Mode camera features on its promotional webpage.

It runs Android 10 with One UI 2.0. Other Galaxy S20 FE 5G features include Quick Share, Samsung DeX Wireless, and Wireless PowerShare. The smartphone is powered by a 4,500mAh battery and it supports 25W Super Fast Charging. However, the South Korean firm will only bundle a 15W charger with its upcoming phone. The Galaxy S20 FE 5G also supports fast wireless charging 2.0 and reverse wireless charging.

 

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Samsung CMO: It’s time for marketing to grow up and here’s how

Being one of the largest and most multifaceted conglomerates in the history of mankind, Samsung isn’t lacking in the desire to change the world, nor the talent to do it. Marketing is no exception to that rule, as illustrated by the contribution Benjamin Braun, Samsung’s European CMO, made to Build Brilliant Brands. That would be the name of a newly released book compiling marketing advice from 22 industry leaders.

Published by the Facebook EMEA Client Council forum earlier today, the book offers a rare glimpse into the mind of one of Samsung’s top marketing officials. It hence reveals Braun still sees the marketing profession as somewhat immature and believes it’s time for it to fully grow up in the context of the 21st century. To do so, marketers shouldn’t shy away from marrying the many arts and sciences that compel them in everyday work, but avoid falling into the trap of obsessing over any one of them individually, Braun posits.

Samsung Europe’s marketing chief also offered actionable advice on how to do so, advocating for an evidence-based approach to the craft which starts with an implementation of econometrics into modern marketing practices.

The book’s best Samsung insight comes from an oil company exec

Six pages’ worth of Braun’s thoughts on the past, present, and future of marketing aren’t the only element of Facebook’s newly published book relevant to Samsung. Another section of the book pointing toward the chaebol’s renowned status in the world of marketing was penned by Dean Aragon, CEO of Shell Brands International & Global VP Brand. Whose words, as that title already implies, came from the perspective of a consumer, not (just) an industry veteran from the segment’s highest echelon. Yet one could argue that’s what makes them even more valuable and better reflects Samsung’s pioneering approach to doing business and connecting with consumers.

The relevant passage has Aragon point to Samsung as an example of a company that defies big data science and limits its potential when it comes to predicting consumer behavior and, consequently, making informed marketing decisions. More specifically, the executive explained how his personal shopping history could suggest he’s an Apple loyalist, whereas in reality, he’s been immersing himself in Samsung’s device portfolio for a while now and intends to continue shifting his entire family in that direction moving forward. All due to what he perceives as Samsung’s “commitment to innovation.”

And again, this is all coming from someone not paid or otherwise incentivized to hold a positive opinion of Samsung. Long-time readers will know that Aragon’s view of recent Galaxy products is too positive even for us self-proclaimed Samsung loyalists at SamMobile. Of course, we’d still welcome him to our ranks if he’s ever in search of a career change.

Build Brilliant Brands is available for download free of charge as of today.

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Samsung needs to do more than pretending to support mobile gaming

Samsung has the best interest of mobile gamers at heart. This is what the promotional material would have you believe, but this often seems to be a marketing stunt more than anything else. Don’t get me wrong; Samsung’s partnerships with Epic Games or Microsoft’s Xbox arm, for example, can lead to interesting things such as custom Fortnite skins and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate bonuses for early Galaxy Note 20 / Galaxy Tab S7 adopters. However, these benefits seem to be more of an expression of Samsung’s marketing skills rather than a reflection of its ability to understand and cater to the needs of mobile gamers.

It’s tempting to back this up by highlighting the difference in graphical performance between Samsung’s in-house SoCs and Qualcomm’s solutions; or make a big deal about how customers in some markets are getting the short end of the stick with the Exynos-powered variants. But that’s a far more complex problem than Samsung’s seemingly false attitude towards mobile gaming.

To give you a practical example, Galaxy fans have had reasons to celebrate that Fortnite was released on mobile along with the Galaxy Note 9. This collaboration brought more attention to the S Pen flagship, and in the process, Fortnite fans got an exclusive in-game skin from Samsung. However, the reality of the situation is that it took a while for Samsung’s flagships to support the highest graphical settings in Fortnite. The Galaxy Note 9 certainly couldn’t do it. But more to the point at hand, none of its flagships support 90Hz/120Hz refresh rate while some other competing Android smartphones do.

It may not be Samsung’s fault entirely, but perhaps the company needs to work more closely with developers to offer the best-possible user experience, especially if said mobile game was used to promote a Galaxy device and vice versa.

Samsung gave up on its own game streaming service

There is a similar sentiment in regards to the whole Galaxy Note 20/Galaxy Tab S7 and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate collaboration as well. Both Samsung and Microsoft have increased their visibility through this partnership but outside of a gift subscription to Microsoft’s game streaming service for select Samsung customers, this collaboration didn’t bring any substantial benefits to Galaxy device users. The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate cloud service was released across the entire Android landscape this week and Galaxy smartphone/tablet users didn’t get early access or any other benefits. This is purely a Microsoft product and not something Samsung has developed.

This lackluster Xbox partnership wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb if it wasn’t for Samsung’s decision to shut down PlayGalaxy Link earlier this year. It was a streaming platform that leveraged Parsec’s technology to give Galaxy smartphone and tablet users a way to play their PC games remotely on mobile. It wasn’t a subscription to a cloud-based game streaming service, but some would argue that it was a better solution for gamers who wanted to play their existing game library on the go without any strings attached.

We’re not sure if PlayGalaxy Link disappeared because of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate cloud-based service for mobile, but assuming this is the case then Samsung made the wrong move. Simply put, PlayGalaxy Link and Microsoft’s cloud gaming platform were different enough to coexist. Yet Samsung decided to pull the plug on its own service without much notice or evident reason.

At this point, the Game Launcher is probably the best gaming-oriented service/app Samsung has to offer, but I don’t think Game Launcher and the company’s clever marketing strategies are enough to sincerely-paint ‘Galaxy’ as the brand of choice for gaming enthusiasts.

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Verizon and Samsung begin lab trials for new 5G mmWave indoor cell sites

Verizon has announced that its upcoming 5G mmWave in-building solution for indoor coverage and private 5G networking will be powered by Samsung and Corning. The two companies have been chosen by Verizon after an industry-wide request for proposal, and lab trials have begun using Samsung’s solution.

Samsung’s 5G mmWave indoor cell site solution will be advanced to field trials once testing will be successfully completed. According to Verizon, Samsung’s product provides a compact, discrete indoor 5G solution capable of delivering the high-throughput and lower-latency service levels to support Verizon enterprise customers’ in-building 5G service requirements.

Extending the 5G footprint for commercial and enterprise customers

Samsung’s 5G mmWave indoor cell site promises to bring the benefits of 5G indoors where mmWave signals have difficulties reaching when beamed in from outdoor 5G sites. Similar technologies that follow the same principles have been used for indoor 4G LTE before, so the concept is not entirely new. But the 5G mmWave indoor site should offer high reliability, capacity, and throughput, and allow a large number of users to utilize robust data applications simultaneously, claims Verizon.

The technology will eventually be used to provide 5G coverage inside facilities such as hospitals, schools, warehouses, retail stores, ports and more. In addition, the company says these indoor cell sites are a critical step on the way to private 5G networks for enterprise customers. They are one of the three basic components of a robust 5G network along with a private core and a Mobile Edge Compute (MEC) platform.

In other recent news, Samsung had signed a contract to supply Verizon with network equipment for the next five years. The deal is worth around $6.6 billion and covers 5G technologies.

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Galaxy M01s and Galaxy M31 receive One UI Core 2.1 via firmware update

The Galaxy M01s and the Galaxy M31 have both received an important new firmware update this week. The Galaxy M01s is making the jump from Android 9 Pie to Android 10, and both smartphones are getting One UI Core 2.1 as well as the September 2020 security patch.

The Galaxy M01s is getting the update in India. The package carries firmware version M017FXXU1BTI5. Meanwhile, the Galaxy M31 is receiving the update in India, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. It’s identified by firmware version M315FXXU2ATI4.

You can download the firmware update in these regions by opening Settings on your phone, accessing Software update, and tapping Download and install. Or you can check our firmware archive for the Galaxy M01s (SM-M017F) and Galaxy M31 (SM-M315F), download the latest update and install it on your phone using a Windows PC.

One UI 2.1 is finally here; Galaxy M31 gets shutter speed controls

We’re not sure of the changelog for the Galaxy M01s but the update should bring the usual Android 10 improvements. One UI Core 2.1 should also include basic features like Music Share and Quick Share but the Galaxy M01s is a low-end phone so don’t expect many other additions or camera improvements to be included with the update.

The Galaxy M31 also runs the ‘Core’ or simplified version of One UI, but we can confirm that version 2.1 introduces a handful of new features such as Quick Share, Music Share, Single Take, and My Filters. The latest Galaxy M31 update also brings the same shutter speed controls in Pro mode that you would find on devices like the Galaxy M31s and the Galaxy M51.

Galaxy M31

• Model: SM-M315F
• Dimensions: Bar: 159.2 x 75.1 x 8.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.4 inch / 162.56 mm Super AMOLED Display
• CPU: Exynos 9611
• Camera: 64MP

More specifications

Galaxy M01s

• Model: SM-M017F
• Dimensions: Bar: 156.9 x 75.8 x 7.8 mm
  
• Display: 6.1 inch / 153.7 mm PLS TFT LCD
• CPU: Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22
• Camera: 13MP

More specifications

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Mystic White Galaxy Z Flip 5G might be coming to Europe ‘soon’

Samsung’s 5G-enabled Galaxy Z Flip variant was released in a couple of new colors. Instead of the Mirror Black, Mirror Purple, and Mirror Gold shades that were created for the Galaxy Z Flip 4G, the 5G model was introduced in Mystic Gray and Mystic Bronze. A third color option, Mystic White, was spotted in the wild at the beginning of September, and now we’re hearing that it will be available in Europe ‘soon.’

This bit of information comes from @Sudhanshu1414 on Twitter and it’s accompanied by the render you see below. There’s not much else to say; it’s the regular Galaxy Z Flip 5G in Mystic White, but it does look gorgeous. The Galaxy Z Flip is a stylish device no matter the color, but even so, Mystic White seems to suit it very well.

The source makes no mention of a potential release in the USA or other markets, and we can safely assume that availability will differ by country even in Europe. The price, on the other hand, should remain the same. In Germany for example, the Galaxy Z Flip 5G in Mystic Gray or Mystic Bronze costs 1,510 euro and customers can drop the price by up to 700 euro when exchanging another device.

Samsung appears to be fully committed to the foldable segment, and with this commitment come new customization options. Samsung’s original vision to offer custom hinge colors for the Galaxy Fold finally became true with the Galaxy Z Fold 2 in some markets, and although the company doesn’t offer a similar service for the Galaxy Z Flip, it doesn’t seem to be shying away from exploring new color options either.

Would you pick Mystic White as the color of your Galaxy Z Flip 5G, or do you prefer another? Perhaps you miss the Mirror colors of the original model and you’d like them to be available for the 5G variant? Let us know in the comment section below which one is your favorite.

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High ASPs drive wearable demand down in MEA but Samsung wins in Q2

Demand for wearable products has declined in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) market in Q2 2020 but Samsung has had a healthy quarter in the region and ranked second after Apple. In Q2, shipments of wearable devices in the MEA declined 2.7% year-on-year to a total of 2 million, down 1 million units from the first quarter of the year. However, Samsung placed second with 33% market share and 25.2% value share.

According to IDC, Samsung recorded a significant year-on-year increase in shipments throughout the April-June period. The Galaxy Buds+ were reportedly very successful as Samsung managed to ship roughly 98,000 units in the region in the second quarter of the year. Although wrist devices remain the driving force behind the wearable market in the MEA region – accounting for 46.6% of all wearable shipments in Q2 – the smart earware category was a close second with 33.3% market share.

In fact, IDC expects earwear shipments to increase in the coming quarters. The increase in demand is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, or specifically the fact that more people are learning and working from home. The market research firm states that consumers are driving the high demand as they’re using smart earbuds not only for entertainment but also to increase their productivity.

Samsung introduced the new Galaxy Buds Live and the Galaxy Watch 3 at Galaxy Unpacked last month but IDC data shows that the high average selling price of high-end solutions was the cause of fall in demand in Q2. Nevertheless, customers who may not be inclined to pay the full launch price for the latest Galaxy wearables might be able to take advantage of new discounts on older models including the Galaxy Buds+ and the Galaxy Watch Active 2. All in all, the company should have the necessary tools and resources to maintain its momentum as demand for wearables increases in the MEA.

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Samsung to skip QD-LED TVs next year while China’s TCL leads the foray

A few months ago we talked about Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display being at odds regarding the use of QD-LED (Quantum Dot LED) technology. There were reasons to believe that Samsung may be skipping QD-LED technology next year, and now our suspicions have seemingly been confirmed by a new report claiming that Chinese TV manufacturer TCL will beat Samsung’s consumer electronics division to it.

According to anonymous part industry insiders cited by Business Korea, TCL will be Samsung Display’s first client to receive QD-LED panel orders in the first half of 2021. TCL intends to unveil its first 65-inch QD-LED TV at IFA 2021 in the second half of next year. Meanwhile, the report claims that Samsung Electronics has no intentions of adopting QD-LED panels for its TV lineup next year, and there’s no new information as to when QD-LED technology might become a part of Samsung’s TV business.

Samsung Electronics to buy panels from TCL

The reasons why Samsung Electronics will reportedly skip QD-LED technology next year have to do with manufacturing costs and the company’s existing strategy. QD-LED panels cost more to produce compared to OLED and Samsung may want to avoid jumping on the QD-LED bandwagon because it already uses multiple display technologies including OLED, micro-LED, and LCD. Meanwhile, Samsung Display is pressed to find a client for QD-LED to make up for its investments.

Speaking of LCD, this is another example of Samsung Display and Samsung Electronics being at odds with each other’s interests. Samsung Display is ceasing LCD production this year but the recent report claims that Samsung Electronics still requires LCD panels for its TVs. Oddly enough, Samsung Electronics will reportedly secure these LCD panels from CSOT, a China-based display manufacturer owned by TCL, by the end of 2020.

In other words, the report suggests that TCL, not Samsung Electronics, will be the first TV manufacturer to adopt QD-LED panels from Samsung Display. At the same time, Samsung Electronics will receive its LCD supply from TCL’s subsidiary CSOT instead of Samsung Display.

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Galaxy Z Fold 2 vs Surface Duo not an impossible comparison: video

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Surface Duo are far from an impossible comparison to make, even though Microsoft keeps insisting its newly released and repeatedly delayed gadget is doing its own thing. Or, better said, that may be true, but its own thing is still in the ballpark of what Samsung’s latest foldable smartphone has to offer. That’s according to Lisa Gade of MobileTechReview, whose newest tech video review drew some direct and rather informative parallels between the duo, no pun intended.

For starters, real-world performance isn’t dramatically different even though Microsoft’s two-screen handset ships with a year older chipset. Though as it’s only equipped with half of the Galaxy Z Fold 2’s 12GB of RAM, its multitasking capabilities are way less consistent.

Surface Duo deemed better Galaxy Note successor than Samsung’s own foldable

On the other hand, Surface Pen support makes the Surface Duo a way more sensible choice for someone moving from a Galaxy Note device. While Samsung has reportedly been trying to incorporate a digitizer into its flexible-screen smartphones for a while now, it turns out that replacing the Galaxy Note family is a gargantuan task. Ultimately, however, it’s impossible to say which device offers outright better value for money as the $600 price difference doesn’t amount to much when the level of UX refinement on offer isn’t comparable. Because while the Galaxy Z Fold 2 made a truly generational step forward, the Surface Duo, on the whole, still feels undercooked, Gade concluded.

Microsoft started selling its first dual-screen Android smartphone in the United Sattes several days back. The Galaxy Z Fold 2, meanwhile, is slated for a global release on Friday, September 18th, following a successful pre-order period.

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BTS hits ‘the strange tailor shop’ in hectic Galaxy Note 20 promo

Samsung and mega-popular boy band Bangtan Boys – better known as BTS – have been collaborating on promoting the company’s devices for the better part of this year. But while their partnership started as a fairly run-of-the-mill pairing between a celebrity (group) and a major consumer brand, it evolved into anything but. A couple of unassuming promos hence quickly led to a limited-edition Android flagship, an equally unique pair of wireless earbuds, tens of thousands of pre-orders, countless social media records getting broken again and again.

From there, the Samsung x BTS campaign still managed to keep everyone guessing, touring the Far East and promoting a handful of high-end Samsung smartphones. After a round of laidback and humorous unboxing videos, as well as carefree commentary, this dynamic pairing is bringing us something way more attention-grabbing, choreographed, professionally directed, meticulously edited, and utterly entertaining – not to mention way closer to Jin and Jungkook’s comfort zone than reviewing smartphones. See for yourself:

Samsung x BTS campaign is still keeping everyone guessing what’s next

Besides BTS fan service, this flashy Galaxy Note 20 (Ultra) ad also reminds us the xCloud game streaming service is now at last available globally (well, in countries Microsoft bothered to target) following a lengthy beta testing period.

As for Samsung’s new favorite celebrity collaboration, the company already confirmed BTS will be participating in next week’s unveiling of the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition. Meanwhile, even the original Galaxy S20 line is still riding the momentum of this blockbuster partnership, so it’s highly likely Samsung and BTS continue collaborating for many years to come.

Galaxy Note 20

• Model: SM-N980F
• Dimensions: Bar: 161.6 x 75.2 x 8.3 mm
  
• Display: 6.7 inch / 170.18 mm Super AMOLED Plus
• CPU: Exynos 990
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

• Model: SM-N985F
• Dimensions: Bar: 164.8 x 77.2 x 8.1 mm
  
• Display: 6.9 inch / 175.26 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 990
• Camera: 108MP

More specifications

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First Galaxy A52 specs reveal details about the camera setup

The Galaxy A50 was one of Samsung’s best-selling smartphones in 2019 and the company followed it up with the Galaxy A51. This year’s variant ended up performing very well too. This is without a doubt one of the best mid-range smartphones that Samsung makes. It’s also an essential device for the company since it sells like hotcakes.

So as you can imagine, Samsung will be hoping for similar results from the Galaxy A52. The company currently has the device in development and while it’s still a bit too soon for leaks, the first Galaxy A52 specs have surfaced and they concern the camera setup.

First Galaxy A52 specs reveal camera details

Samsung has already been registering brand names for its 2021 Galaxy A series and the Galaxy A52 is among them. Like its predecessor, we can expect the Galaxy A52 to be available in both LTE and 5G variants. The Galaxy A51 5G is still the cheapest Samsung 5G phone available in the market right now.

Our friends over at GalaxyClub have discovered these preliminary Galaxy A52 specs. Like the Galaxy A51, it’s also going to have a quad camera setup at the back. The primary camera is going to have a 64-megapixel resolution, an upgrade over the Galaxy A51’s 48-megapixel sensor, and there’s also going to be a macro camera.

This suggests that the Galaxy A52 may not come with a true zoom lens. It’s unclear if the macro camera will have the same 5-megapixel resolution as the Galaxy A51. The details of the wide-angle and depth sensors are not available as yet.

An earlier report has also suggested that Samsung could bring wireless charging to its 2021 Galaxy A series. We can expect more details about the Galaxy A52 specs to surface in the coming weeks. Samsung should unveil these devices towards the end of this year or in the very beginning of 2021.

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SM-F415 manual shows it’s not a camera-centric phone, just a Galaxy M31

You may have seen reports yesterday about Samsung launching a new ‘camera-centric’ Galaxy F smartphone before the end of this month. There has been a fair bit of speculation about this new device, model number SM-F415, that Samsung is working on.

It was initially believed to be the affordable Galaxy Z Fold Lite but there was little to support that theory. This conclusion was reached simply because Samsung uses the letter F for its foldable phones. We later reported that the SM-F415 isn’t a foldable phone, in fact, it isn’t really a “new” device to begin with.

SM-F415 is just a rebadged Galaxy M31

Our sources had revealed to us that the SM-F415 is just the Galaxy M31. We dug up more information on the device and found out that both the Galaxy M31 and this unreleased device have exactly the same specs. Even firmware development has started over at Samsung India for the M31 with SM-F415F as the model number instead of SM-M315F. It’s just confusing and there’s no good explanation why Samsung is doing this.

We have also obtained the user manual for the SM-F415 and that leaves no doubt that whatever this device ends up being launched as it’s going to be nothing more than a rebadged Galaxy M31.

The only plausible explanation for this could be that the SM-F415 is another variant of the Galaxy M31 destined for a specific Asian market. As to why Samsung is doing this, developing a run-of-the-mill basic smartphone under nomenclature usually reserved for its foldables, is anybody’s guess right now.

We’ll continue to keep an eye on this and let you know when more information is available. For now, though, you can forget about a new ‘camera-centric’ mid-range phone. If you really want one, maybe you should check out the Galaxy A51.

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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra battery capacity leaks

Now that the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Z Fold 2’s launch dust has settled, leaks related to the Galaxy S21 have started to appear more frequently. We had exclusively reported two months ago that Samsung is working on three Galaxy S21 models. Last week, the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s camera configuration was leaked, and now it is time for the information related to its battery.

According to our friends at GalaxyClub, the Galaxy S21 Ultra (SM-G998) will use a battery with model number EB-BG998ABY. The battery has a rated capacity of 4,885mAh, and Samsung could market its typical battery capacity as 5,000mAh. While the Galaxy S21+ appears to feature a slightly higher battery capacity than the Galaxy S20+, the Galaxy S21 Ultra will continue using the same battery capacity as that of the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

The Galaxy S21 (SM-G991) will come packed with the EB-BG991ABY battery, which has a rated capacity of 3,880mAh. Samsung could market its typical battery capacity as 4,000mAh, similar to the Galaxy S20’s battery. However, that doesn’t mean we won’t see improvements in battery life. The South Korean brand is working on 5nm Exynos processors with higher power efficiency for its next-generation Galaxy S series smartphones. Samsung would also launch Snapdragon 875 versions of the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra is expected to come with a 40MP selfie camera and a quad-camera setup at the rear, featuring a 108MP ISOCELL HM2 sensor with a wide-angle lens, a 12MP ultrawide camera, a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and another telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom. It appears that the company could ditch the 3D ToF sensor from its phones next year.

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Samsung’s share in foldable smartphone market could reach 80% this year

With Huawei struggling due to the trade sanctions imposed by the US government and Motorola not launching competitive products, Samsung is having it easy in the foldable smartphone space. Despite the weak competition, the South Korean smartphone firm is trying hard to improve the quality and features of its foldable smartphones, and as a result, its market share could reach a record high this year.

According to a new report from industry tracker DSCC (Display Supply Chain Consultants), Samsung’s market share in the foldable segment could reach 80% in 2020. Huawei is Samsung’s closest competitor in the segment, and the Mate X2 was expected to be unveiled with an inward folding screen in October, but the restrictions imposed by the US made it hard for the Chinese firm to acquire necessary components. Now, Huawei seems to have postponed the launch.

Samsung could sell up to 4 million foldable phones this year

DSCC claims that the Galaxy Z Flip will be the best-selling foldable phone of 2020. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 and the Moto RAZR are expected to become the second and third best-selling foldable smartphones this year. Ross Young, who heads DSCC, said, “This is higher than previously forecast due to their success along with Huawei’s inability to launch the Mate X2 as a result of U.S. government restrictions.”

Analysts claim that Samsung could sell as many as 4 million foldable smartphones this year, which shows the success of the company’s foldable phone technology. The Galaxy Z Fold 2, which was recently unveiled, has received higher-than-expected pre-orders in South Korea, and Samsung had to postpone the official launch date by a few days.

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Samsung’s mobile processor market share drops in Q2 2020

Samsung has been trying to expand its mobile processor business over the past year, and we’ve seen Exynos processors appear in various Vivo smartphones released in 2020. However, according to a new report, the company’s market share still dropped in the second quarter of this year. Its processors have also been heavily criticized due to higher power consumption and throttled performance.

The latest report from Counterpoint Research claims that Samsung’s share in the mobile application processor (AP) market dropped by three percentage points to 13% in Q2 2020. In the same quarter last year, the South Korean firm’s market share was 16%. Samsung’s market share declined in every region except North America, where its market share increased from 9% to 16%. It was also the top smartphone AP firm in Europe with a 27% share of the market.

Qualcomm is still the market leader with a market share of 29%. However, data showed that the American brand’s market share took a dip of 4 percentage points from Q2 2019. Taiwanese firm MediaTek appears to be breathing down Qualcomm’s next with a market share of 26%, up 2 percentage points from last year. Despite trade sanctions imposed by the US, China’s HiSilicon Technologies ranked third in the list, with a market share of 16%, up 4 percentage points from Q2 2019. Apple and Samsung are tied to the fourth position with a market share of 13%.

The global mobile processor market declined 26% in Q2 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but 5G adoption is expected to drive the market next year. It is also being reported that the ban on Huawei will turn into a golden opportunity for MediaTek, Qualcomm, and Unisoc.

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