Samsung was the top LCD TV vendor in 2016

A division of market research firm TrendForce, WitsView, has released a new report which reveals that LCD TV shipments increased by 1.6 percent annually across the globe to reach 219.2 million units. The shipment growth has been attributed to strong sales in North America and the increasing affordability of large TVs. Samsung remained the top LCD TV vendor last year as it shipped 47.9 million units across the globe.

Despite its impressive performance compared to its rivals, Samsung posted a flat annual growth rate for 2016 as it had to deal with shortages for mid-size panels through the year. Samsung’s shipments were particularly affected by the earthquake in southern Taiwan in February last year which caused supply shortages.

Samsung is now believed to close to inking a sourcing deal with LG Display which will see its rival’s display division supply LCD panels to the company. Samsung may start receiving LCD panels from LG by June this year. LG was the second on the list of top LCD TV vendors last year as it shipped 28.2 million units globally.

from SamMobile http://ift.tt/2k2EWHO
via IFTTT

Samsung reportedly confused by Trump’s ‘thank you’ tweet

President Trump was quick to take to Twitter to thank Samsung after a report surfaced online claiming that the firm is planning to build a plant in the United States to manufacture home appliances. However, it would appear that company officials are a little confused by the tweet as they’re still yet to reply.

Speaking to Korean publication The Investor, an industry official said, “We feel pressured for (President Trump) thanking Samsung because nothing has been decided yet, but it could give the wrong impression that Samsung may have done something (as he wished).

Thank you, @Samsung! We would love to have you! https://t.co/r5nxC9oOA4

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017

He then reportedly went on to add that “new investment plans like building factories take considerable time to review. But with the President making such a comment first, we could be viewed as withdrawing from a plan that we haven’t even decided yet.”

Samsung was quick to issue an official statement following the publication of the tweet, noting that it’s invested $17 billion in its semiconductor plant in Austin, Texas, but reassuring concerned parties that no plans to construct a factory have been confirmed as it’s still “[evaluating] new investment needs in the US.”

from SamMobile http://ift.tt/2kwpPKr
via IFTTT

Stability update starts making its way to the Nougat-powered Galaxy S7 edge

Samsung has today started rolling out a rather unexpected OTA for the international variant of the Galaxy S7 edge. Unfortunately, the changelog doesn’t provide any indication of what the update — firmware version G935FXXU1DQAS — bundles, but seeing as it weighs in at a little over 15MB, we’re guessing that it’s packed full of bug fixes and stability improvements for the much-anticipated Android 7.0 Nougat upgrade that recently made its way to the device.

from SamMobile http://ift.tt/2l3DnK0
via IFTTT

Mystery Samsung phone with MediaTek Helio P20 processor spotted

We’ve heard for a couple of years now that Samsung is thinking about sourcing processors from MediaTek for its low-end devices, particularly those powered by Tizen. Samsung currently uses its own Exynos processors or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon series for Android devices while it relies on the likes of Spreadtrum for Tizen devices. MediaTek is no small player as it’s the largest supplier of processors to OEMs in China. The companies have been talking about a potential partnership for a few years and just four months ago a major MediaTek executive said that Samsung was now a customer.

It appears that this partnership is now moving forward. A mystery Samsung device with model number SM-G615F has been spotted on the benchmarking website GFXBench. The listing shows that this handset has a 5.7-inch 1080p display, a 2.3GHz MediaTek Helio P20 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. It also features 12-megapixel cameras on the front and back. Android 7.0 Nougat is mentioned as well.

There’s little information available about this device right now so it’s unclear in which series Samsung will fit this MediaTek-powered device in. If one were to speculate based off of the model number, you may not remember but Samsung assigned SM-G600 to the original Galaxy On7 while the On7 (2016) carried model number SM-G610. Perhaps this is the next-generation On7? Hopefully, the situation will clear up in a couple of weeks.

from SamMobile http://ift.tt/2l1QBaW
via IFTTT

Samsung launches CFG70 curved quantum dot gaming monitor in India

Six months after showcasing it at the Gamescom 2016 Expo, Samsung has launched the CFG70 curved gaming monitor in India. The Quantum Dot monitor would be available in two screen sizes in the country: 24-inch (LC24FG70) and 27-inch (LC27FG70). The LC24FG70 is priced at INR 35,000, while the LC27FG70 costs at INR 42,000.

Both, the LC24FG70 and the LC27FG70, feature curved Quantum Dot displays with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, 1ms response time, and a refresh rate of 144Hz for compliance with AMD’s FreeSync technology. The company claims that its new monitors feature 3000:1 contrast ratio, a UX specifically designed to help gamers, and a rigorous pre-shipment color calibration process.

from SamMobile http://ift.tt/2kwlpmN
via IFTTT

Original Galaxy A5 gets a new update but it’s not what you think it is

Samsung has started rolling out a new firmware update for the original Galaxy A5 in Europe. It has been a while since this handset received a new update, it was last updated to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow back in the summer last year. Samsung is now rolling out a new update for the SM-A500 but it’s not what you think it is.

The original Galaxy A5 is going to remain at Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow after this update because Samsung has only sent out a security patch for this device. What’s interesting is that this device isn’t even receiving the latest security patch for the month of January 2017. Firmware version A500FUXXS1CPK6 actually brings the November 2016 security patch for the original Galaxy A5.

This update is now being gradually rolled out across Europe for the unlocked variant of the Galaxy A5. If you’ve not yet received the update you can head over to our firmware section and download it manually.

from SamMobile http://ift.tt/2l3vKTK
via IFTTT

Sprint fires up LTE Advanced for the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge

Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge in select cities across the United States will now get significantly faster mobile data speeds on Sprint. The carrier has confirmed that it has fired up three-carrier aggregation and thus brought faster LTE Advanced support to these handsets. There are a total of seven devices on Sprint’s network right now that support three-carrier aggregation, only two are from Samsung, and the carrier says that all seven account for almost 20 percent of its postpaid user base.

Sprint claims that the switch to three-carrier aggregation is going to offer subscribers peak speeds of up to 200Mbps which is a significant improvement over two-carrier aggregation that provides speeds of up to 100Mbps. LTE Advanced involves using multiple LTE bands to allow for greater bandwidth speeds. As the number of bands go up so does the data rate, at least in theory. Sprint has now enabled three-carrier aggregation via an update for both Samsung flagships. Users in cities like San Francisco, Dallas, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Cleveland, Chicago, and more will now be able to enjoy faster mobile data.

from SamMobile http://ift.tt/2koaWrc
via IFTTT