Galaxy A12 is now available in the US via AT&T

Samsung had unveiled the Galaxy A12 late last year, but the smartphone was only available in a few markets, including India, Singapore, South Korea, and the UK. The affordable smartphone has now made its way to the US despite Samsung refraining from making any official announcement. The Galaxy A12 is only available in black in the US right now.

AT&T has quietly listed the Galaxy A12 on its website. The smartphone is priced at $179.99 for the unlocked model. Users can also opt for a new line or upgrade their existing line and then select an “eligible” unlimited plan to receive $150 worth of in-bill credits over a period of 30 months, bringing the phone’s price down to just $1 per month. Compared to the international variant of the Galaxy A12, the Galaxy A12 sold on AT&T’s network has a downgraded camera system. The international version’s 48MP primary rear-facing camera has been replaced with a 16MP sensor. Other specs remain similar to the international Galaxy A12.

The Galaxy A12 on AT&T’s network features a 6.5-inch HD+ Infinity-V IPS LCD display, a MediaTek Helio P35 processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, a microSD card slot, and a 5,000mAh battery. It runs Android 10 out of the box. There is an 8MP front-facing camera and a 16MP+2MP+2MP rear-facing camera. Other specs of the Galaxy A12 include GPS, LTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, a USB Type-C port, a headphone jack, and 15W fast charging.

• Buy Galaxy A12 in the US via AT&T

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Samsung reportedly secures another supplier in the wake of LG’s demise

Samsung has reportedly secured yet another component supplier from LG’s camp, with local media outlets now claiming that LG Innotek will supply Samsung Electronics with chip-on-film (CoF) solutions for its Galaxy A series including the Galaxy A52 and the Galaxy A72.

LG Innotek is part of the LG Corporation. The company has recently lost one of its major clients, namely LG Electronics, as the conglomerate’s mobile arm confirmed that it is exiting the market. This means fewer orders for LG Innotek, who used to supply the mobile division with CoFs and other components.

LG Innotek reportedly becomes the sole supplier for Galaxy A52

The good news for LG Innotek is that the company has reportedly inked a deal with Samsung Electronics to supply the company’s Galaxy A mid-range series with chip-on-films. The two tech giants have collaborated before on a smaller scale, but reports claim that LG Innotek is now the sole supplier of CoFs for the Galaxy A52. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A72 is reportedly fitted with CoFs supplied by Stemco and Wonhwa.

Samsung has also reportedly secured LG’s key display driver and touch IC supplier earlier this week. Silicon Works, a soon-to-be-affiliate of LX Group, may supply these components for Samsung’s mobile products that are planned to go on sale in H2.

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PENUP artists finally have access to long-awaited Layers feature

Samsung’s S Pen-friendly app PENUP has just received one of its best updates yet. PENUP began as a simple doodling app with coloring book features, but over the years it slowly yet steadily grew to become a more complete app for aspiring artists. One key omission that’s been holding the app back all these years has now been addressed, as PENUP now officially supports layers.

PENUP version 3.6.00.15 brings two major changes to the user experience. Firstly, the coloring book catalogue can now be found in a dedicated Books tab within the Coloring section. Secondly and most importantly, the new update adds layer functionality to the drawing tool, i.e., the main mode that lets you paint on a blank canvas as opposed to offering a template, and arguably the only mode that’s relevant for any useful work.

Layers have made PENUP a much more competent drawing app

Layers are virtually mandatory in any app that claims to offer serious photo editing and / or digital drawing capabilities, so the option in PENUP couldn’t come soon enough. Using PENUP without signing in to the service allows you to use 2 layers at most, but logged in with your Samsung account or alternative gives you access to a maximum of 12 layers in a single drawing.

As to why they’re a big deal, layers generally allow for different blending options, masking, bolder editing and more. In PENUP, the Layer option that was introduced with the latest update doesn’t have advanced blending options, but each layer comes with an opacity slider, an option to import images from the Gallery or Camera apps, and a couple of options for merging.

This new addition to PENUP can drastically change the way you approach your digital art. Layers allow you to create edits to drawings without worrying about what’s underneath, and successful edits can then be gradually merged into a single, final layer.

The latest PENUP version is now available at the Play Store and the Galaxy Store. To download it, open the Galaxy Store app on your S Pen-enabled phone or tablet, tap the menu button and go to Updates.

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Samsung approves over $40 million worth of R&D projects

Samsung greenlit another series of research and development projects, valued at over 46 billion won, which amounts to some $41 million USD, going by today’s exchange rate. The move spans 27 individual initiatives from three South Korean universities covering IT, basic science, and materials engineering.

Naturally, artificial intelligence projects are part of the effort, as well. And while genetics haven’t been a huge focus of Samsung Science in the past, it would seem that might change in the future. Because part of the funding will go toward scientific pursuits involving niche fields such as DNA sequencing.

From quantum light sourcing to AI

The Seoul National University will receive a portion of the funding for projects involving machine learning. Those will predominantly revolve around the development of new models for study and various real-world applications. Samsung is also funding the Pohang University of Science and Technology as part of the same investment wave. POSTECH projects enabled by the funding will be in the field of molecular chemistry, focused on improving material conversion efficiency, which could deliver a significant boost to an array of manufacturing techniques.

The Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology is the final recipient of the newly announced funding, which will go toward continuing its work in a nascent field of quantum light sourcing. Quantum light source technology is capable of withstanding extremely low temperatures and has some developing applications in cryptography. The entirety of the funding will be released over the course of this quarter, underlining a record ten-year period for Samsung’s R&D investments amounting to more than $1.3 billion.

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Samsung makes life easier for Mobile and Display business partners

Samsung’s Ascend Partner Portal program for business partners in the USA has been enhanced with new additions based on feedback received from its Partner Advisory Board. As a result, Samsung has announced that its Ascend Partner Portal now offers a personalized customer interface, an automated marketing engine, and a new loyalty points program.

Samsung claims to have continuously improved the Ascend Partner Portal program ever since it was released, with the number of registered users increasing by about 85% in the meantime. Samsung is at the forefront of sales innovation, and our evolved portal reflects this with new capabilities that help B2B partners create more opportunities to drive growth, said Samsung Electronics America VP and Head of Mobile B2B John Curtis.

Ascend Partner Portal program gets updated with new tools

According to Samsung, the Ascend Partner Portal program now offers information tailored for each visiting partner in dedicated Mobile or Display sections. Datasheets, sales presentations, and brochures can now be viewed with more ease.

Marketing assets are now better and easier to obtain. Instead of re-creating marketing materials, resellers now have access to a shop of ‘plug-and-play’ marketing assets which will allow them to speed up the process of creating content for marketing campaigns.

Finally, the latest changes to the Ascend Partner Portal program include new tools for sales leaders to review training certifications, registered deals and more. Samsung hopes for the new point program to encourage partners to interact with the site, submit deal registrations, launch marketing campaigns, and complete training certifications.

The Ascend Partner Portal program offers five tiers with various benefits: Silver, Gold, Diamond, Platinum, and Titanium.

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Samsung Display enters into another 7-year partnership with Corning

Following a successful collaboration that spanned over the course of the last 7 years, Samsung Display and Corning have announced that they’ll be inking another partnership for the next 7 years. As part of the new collaboration, Samsung Display will maintain its ownership stake in Corning until 2028 at the least, and the company will convert all of its preferred shares into 115 million common shares.

Meanwhile, 35 million of Samsung Display’s common shares will be repurchased by Corning, giving Samsung Display an ownership stake of around 9%. This transaction is expected to immediately increase Corning’s EPS (Earnings Per Share). The initial transaction is said to conclude later this month.

The collaboration for foldable displays and other solutions continues

From the early days of CRT, to LCD, to more recent collaborations on OLED, QD Display, and flexible displays, we’re proud to be the key material innovation partner to Samsung, claimed Corning chairman and CEO Wendell P. Weeks. And indeed, Corning and Samsung have been working on a wide variety of products including UTG (Ultra-Thin Glass) for foldable devices.

Samsung Display has been a Corning investor since 2014. The two companies have signed on a series of strategic and financial agreements that led to Corning gaining full ownership of Samsung Corning Precision Materials, the same company that was reportedly looking to sell is LCD production plant in Asan last year due to low production.

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The Galaxy F41 is now receiving its second major One UI 3 update

Samsung offers some of the best firmware support among Android smartphone manufacturers, but even so, it’s somewhat surprising to see the company’s rebranded Galaxy F series of smartphone enjoying timely firmware updates. The Galaxy F62 received its first update around the same time it got released in India, and the Galaxy F41 was updated to Android 11-based One UI 3.0 at the beginning of the year. Surprisingly enough, the same Galaxy F41 is now receiving another major firmware update that pushes the version of One UI to 3.1.

The latest update for the Galaxy F41 can be identified by firmware version F415FXXU1BUC8. It weighs about 1GB and it includes the March 2021 security patch. The changelog mentions camera and overall performance improvement, as well as new and / or enhanced features as part of One UI 3.1.

The update is now being rolled out in India but other markets including Brazil and Panama should also be receiving One UI 3.1 soon. The update will be accompanied by a notification which users can tap to proceed with the installation process. Alternatively, SamMobile readers can refer to our firmware archive where they can find new firmware regularly.

Are you a Galaxy F41 owner in India? Are you happy with the way Samsung’s been supporting the device so far? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Galaxy Note 10 Lite getting April 2021 security patch

Select Galaxy Note 10 Lite units are now receiving a new software update from Samsung; one raising the security patch level to April 1st, 2021. Identified by version number N770FXXU7EUC6, this over-the-air package is now making its way to compatible devices in France. The rollout has yet to expand to any other country.

The wait shouldn’t be too long, however, given how we’re already about a week into the latest security patch rollout. So, Galaxy Note 10 Lite owners can expect the update notification to reach them any day now.

Will we ever get another Note Lite?

But if you’re feeling particularly impatient, you can also do one of two things; the first one would be to attempt triggering the download manually. You do that by going to Settings > Software update > Download and install. This trick is most likely to work in France, given how the deployment already began over there.

Alternatively, you can navigate to our firmware archives and download a compatible mirror of full system images containing the latest update for the Galaxy Note 10 Lite. Make sure you’re flashing the right package, as the actual source code can differ across countries and always differs across models.

The Galaxy Note 10 Lite is Samsung’s latest attempt at making a budget-conscious smartphone equipped with its signature stylus. It remains to be seen whether it’s also its last, given the imminent demise of the iconic series we’ve exclusively reported last month. While some of its future foldable devices are expected to inherit the S Pen, most of them will be pretty far away from the “budget” label.

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Latest Galaxy Note 20 Ultra update brings the April security patch

Samsung began sending out the April 2021 security patch to eligible devices about a week ago. It’s now gradually releasing the patch for more devices. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is the latest Samsung flagship to receive the current security maintenance release.

This latest Galaxy Note 20 Ultra update doesn’t bring much else. That’s because a significant update was released for the device about two weeks ago. It brought over some new camera features from the Galaxy S21 series.

Latest Galaxy Note 20 Ultra update rolling out now

Firmware version N986BXXS1DUD1 is now rolling out for the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. It’s been released in Germany so far. The update should be making its way to users in more markets across the globe soon enough.

Samsung is yet to detail the contents of the April 2021 security patch. We expect that to happen in the coming days. It will ostensibly contain fixes for a variety of security vulnerabilities found in both the Android OS and Samsung’s custom software.

This update is currently rolling out in Germany where users will receive an OTA notification on their handset. The firmware will soon be available for download through our database as well.

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Samsung has finalized the Galaxy Z Flip 2 battery supplier

The Galaxy Z Flip 2 will use an in-house battery, according to a newly emerged report out of the Far East. “In-house” in the sense that the supply contract has been awarded to Samsung Electronics sister company Samsung SDI. The smartphone will be equipped with a dual-battery system identical to the one found inside the original Galaxy Z Flip.

In other words, expect a total capacity in the ballpark of 3,200-3,300mAh. The top cell is understood to be a 903mAh affair, while the bottom one will have a rated capacity of 2,300mAh.

Will the Galaxy Z Flip 2 be the world’s first foldable hit?

No design changes are expected on the outside, as per the same report. The fact that Samsung’s reusing last year’s tech means shorter time-to-market. Likewise, it would appear a price decrease is also on the cards. A more affordable entry point into the world of foldable smartphones is just the thing this niche needs to maintain its rapid momentum.

Flexible-display devices accounted for 2.8 million sales in 2020, with that figure being likely to more than double this year. Come 2022, the market should in excess of 17 million annual device sales, as per recent estimates.

And on the subject of the Galaxy Z Flip 2, our recent exclusive revealed Samsung has a couple of new colors in the works. The clamshell device should launch in the second half of the year. It’s not the only foldable smartphone Samsung’s planning to release in 2021, but it’s still unclear whether the Galaxy Z Fold 2 successor will be debuting alongside it or if it gets its own event.

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Samsung launches Galaxy F02s and Galaxy F12 in India

Samsung started teasing the launch of the Galaxy F02s and the Galaxy F12 in the Indian market last week. The company has now launched both smartphones in India at affordable prices. The Galaxy F02s is simply a rebadged version of the Galaxy M02s, while the Galaxy F12 is a rebranded Galaxy M12 that was launched in India a few days ago.

The Galaxy F02s is priced at INR 8,999 (around $122) for the 3GB+32GB variant and INR 9,999 (around $137) for the 4GB+64GB variant. It is available in three color variants: Diamond Black, Diamond Blue, and Diamond White. The Galaxy F12 is priced at INR 10,999 (around $150) for the 64GB variant and INR 11,999 (around $165) for the 128GB variant, and there is a cashback of INR 1,000 (around $13) cashback on purchases made using ICICI Bank credit and debit cards. It is available in three colors: Celestial Black, Sea Green, and Sky Blue.

Both smartphones will be available from April 9 (at 12 PM) via Flipkart, Samsung’s online store, and select retail stores.

Galaxy F02s, Galaxy F12 specs

The Galaxy F02s features a 6.5-inch IPS LCD Infinity-V display with HD+ resolution, a 5MP selfie camera, and a 13MP+2MP+2MP triple rear-facing camera setup. Sadly, it runs Android 10 (with One UI 2) out of the box. It comes equipped with the Snapdragon 450 processor, 3GB/4GB RAM, 32GB/64GB internal storage, and a microSD card slot. It has a dual-SIM card slot, GPS, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, a USB Type-C port, a headphone jack, and a 5,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging.

The Galaxy F12 has the same specifications as that of the Galaxy M12. It sports a 6.5-inch IPS LCD Infinity-V display with HD+ resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. It runs Android 11 out of the box with One UI 3.1. The phone is equipped with the Exynos 850 processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB/128GB internal storage, and a microSD card slot. It has an 8MP selfie camera and a 48MP+8MP+5MP+2MP quad-camera setup at the rear. It can record 1080p 30fps videos from both front and rear cameras.

The Galaxy F12 also features a side-mounted fingerprint reader, GPS, dual-SIM card slot, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.0, a USB Type-C port, and a headphone jack. It is powered by a 6,000mAh battery and supports 15W fast charging.

• Buy Galaxy F02s from Samsung India
• Buy Galaxy F12 from Samsung India

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Samsung to explain advantages of Neo QLED TVs via tech seminars

Samsung unveiled its first Neo QLED TVs earlier this year during its CES 2021 event. The company’s new TVs use Mini LED backlighting to offer massively improved black levels, contrast ratio, and local dimming. Now, the South Korean firm has announced that it will conduct a month-long tech seminar to explain the advantages of Neo QLED TVs.

The company’s tech seminar, which has been happening for the past ten years, started on March 31 and will continue till May 18. This year’s tech seminar will happen online and focus on the Neo QLED technology and its underlying Mini LED and Micro LED technologies. Various industry and media experts will attend the seminar, which will be held sequentially in all regions of the world, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, Southwest Asia, Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Samsung’s Neo QLED TVs use the Quantum Mini LED technology that uses LED light sources that are 1/40th the size of traditional LED-backlit LCD TVs. As a result, they offer excellent contrast ratio and black levels. They also feature 4,096 brightness levels to offer fine-grain controls. The South Korean firm’s Neo Quantum Processor features powerful AI processing to upscale content to 8K resolution and to improve audio and video quality. The company’s Neo QLED TVs have received praise from globally reputed publications, including German magazine Video, Forbes, and RTINGS.

The company is also focussing a lot on the software front with its new TVs. Tizen has improved over the past few years, implementing support for Alexa, Google Assistant, Bixby, AirPlay 2, Active Voice Amplifier, Object Tracking Sound+, and more. Samsung has also launched the Samsung TV Plus video streaming service in various markets to offer viewers quality content for free. Samsung has been the number one TV brand globally for 15 years in a row and is on the path to extend its leadership for the 16th year.

Seong Il-kyung, Vice President of Samsung Electronics’ Video Display Division, said, “We are happy to inform industry experts of the outstanding image quality and diverse service of Neo QLED through tech seminars. And consumers who spend more time in the house will be able to experience a different level of daily life through Neo QLED.“

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