Samsung’s domination of the global NAND flash memory market continues

Samsung has been in a very comfortable position in the global NAND flash memory market for several years now and the latest data from market research company DRAMeXchange shows that Samsung’s domination of this market continues. Samsung Electronics is said to have racked up $14.151 billion in NAND flash memory sales last year while its closest competitor Toshiba managed to bring in $7.898 billion in sales. Samsung’s NAND flash memory sales increased 34 percent last year from a year ago whereas Toshiba only saw an increase of 18.4 percent.

As you might have guessed already, Samsung and Toshiba are the two largest players in the global NAND flash memory market but the game between their sales has never exceeded $6 billion until last year.

Samsung’s utter dominance in this market is now expected to continue for a considerable amount of time as its manufacturing technology is progressing faster than the competition. Toshiba may not be able to catch up with Samsung quickly given that it’s facing a few hurdles in trying to increase its investment in 3D NAND flash memory production facilities.

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Partners reportedly impressed by the Galaxy S8 at Samsung’s MWC preview event

The Galaxy S8 received a favorable response from global partners after Samsung unveiled it to them during a series of exclusive briefings at a hotel near the venue where Mobile World Congress took place in Barcelona, Spain, last week, reveals The Korea Herald.

All that was preventing hotel guests and other MWC attendees from catching a glimpse of the South Korean company’s latest flagship was a temporary wall. Only those invited were able to enter the makeshift demonstration room and a see a prototype of the device in all its glory.

Partners exiting the facility reportedly revealed to local press that what they saw was “very impressive,” but as you can imagine, in order to prevent any legal repercussions, they failed to respond to comments pertaining to the Galaxy S8′s features or specifications.

Read more: Even more hands-on images of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus surface

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Bribery scandal investigation finds Samsung heir and President of South Korea at fault

The special prosecutor’s office of South Korea said earlier today that the country’s President Park Geun-hye colluded with her friend Choi Soon-sil to receive bribes from the Samsung Group which were aimed at cementing the control of Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong over the entire conglomerate. Special prosecutor Park Young-soo announced the results of the influence-peddling scandal today and the conclusion is more or less similar to what has been alleged in the media for months.

Reports claimed that the Samsung Group had paid more than $35 million in bribes by making contributions to organizations and foundations controlled by Choi Soon-sil in order to win the government’s backing for a 2015 merger between two Samsung affiliates that allowed the company’s founding Lee family to further enhance its control of the empire. The merger went through after South Korea’s state-backed National Pension Service, a major shareholder in one of those affiliates, gave its nod of approval.

The prosecutor’s statement mentions that the findings have revealed that the National Pension Service voted in favor of the merger even though it anticipated a 138.8 billion won ($119.87 million) loss because of it. The report says that Lee pledged 43 billion won ($37.19 million) to win support for the merger from the president and also for the domestic listing of Samsung Biologics, a loss-making drug manufacturing affiliate of the conglomerate.

This now paves the way for prosecutors to investigate the impeached President Park if she’s told to leave office by the Constitutional Court that’s reviewing her impeachment. The possibility exists that she might also be indicted for bribery.

Park, Choi and Lee have all contested the charges against them. Samsung maintains that the conglomerate did not pay bribes or make contributions to seek favors, adding that “future court proceedings will reveal the truth.” Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong has been behind bars for a couple of weeks now after he arrested and indicted on several charges including bribery. His trial is scheduled to begin later this week.

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Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) to go on sale in India on March 15th

Two of Samsung’s new Galaxy A (2017) smartphones will soon be available in the Indian market. The Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) have been launched in the country today and will go on sale on March 15th through online and offline channels. The phones are priced at Rs. 28,990 and Rs. 33,490 respectively. The Galaxy A3 (2017), like its predecessors, won’t be made available in India, likely because consumers in the country have an affinity for smartphones with large displays.

If you have read our reviews of the Galaxy A5 (2017) and the Galaxy A7 (2017), you will know that we came away impressed from what Samsung is offering. The handsets offer IP68-certified water resistance, excellent battery life, and the latest Samsung software (despite not running on Android 7.0 Nougat), in addition to the premium design that the series is known for and Samsung’s wonderful AMOLED displays.

Of course, the intense competition in India from Chinese OEMs like Huawei and OnePlus means the new A series devices might not be the best value propositions, but Samsung’s presence in the offline market and its brand power should be able to persuade quite a few consumers to put their money on the A5 (2017) and A7 (2017). It helps that the new A5 and A7 are the only mid-range phones to be resistant to water and dust.

Will you be buying the Galaxy A5 (2017) or the Galaxy A7 (2017)?

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Galaxy J3 (2016) February security patch rolling out across Europe

It may be a while before the next major Android update makes its way to the Galaxy J3 (2016) but at least it keeps getting new security patches. Samsung is now rolling out the February security update for the Galaxy J3 (2016) across Europe. Firmware version J320FNXXU0AQB2 has now been released for this device. It weighs in at just under 260MB and promises fixes and optimizations for the handset which includes the February security patch.

The Galaxy J3 (2016) is still running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. Marshmallow continues to evade this entry-level smartphone in Europe so if you’re based in Europe and get this update notification, don’t get excited too much because it won’t bump up the handset to Marshmallow. It’s unclear at this point in time when Samsung is finally going to release Marshmallow for this handset.

This over-the-air update is rolling out now across Europe. We have the relevant update file available for download in our firmware section for those who just can’t wait.

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Even more hands-on images of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus surface

Over the past few days, Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus leaks have been flowing in quicker than fresh water from a tap, and today’s no different as we’re catching yet another glimpse of the handsets courtesy of an anonymous case maker. The images, which were snapped at close range, corroborate everything we’ve seen (and heard) about the units in past, including that they’ll sport gorgeous edge-to-edge Infinity Displays and a fingerprint scanner on the back.

This latest set of pictures also cast light on a feature we’ve picked up on, but were skeptical about — a physical home button on the back (pictured above). It’s hardly a secret that the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus sport on-screen keys, but there’s no denying the fact that the mysterious button seen in this image looks an awful lot like a shortened version of the traditional home button found on Samsung’s previous flagships.

Take a look for yourself in the gallery below:

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Samsung releases new remote app for Dacor iQ smart appliances

Premium home appliance company Dacor has been selling Android-powered products like its Discovery IQ Wall Oven and Discovery Dual-Fuel Range Oven for several years now. Since these are connected objects, the company created a remote control app which allows users to easily manage their smart home appliances from a distance. Samsung acquired Dacor last year to improve its position particularly in the US appliance market and it has now gone ahead and released its own remote control app for Dacor iQ smart appliances.

Samsung’s remote control app for Dacor iQ smart appliances is much better than the one that Dacor created. The user interface of Samsung’s Dacor iQ Kitchen application is quite similar to other Samsung applications. If you don’t have a Dacor smart appliance this app is obviously of no use to you but if you do, you’ll be able to control appliances like dishwashers, ovens, and more right from your smartphone.

The Dacor iQ Kitchen app is now available for download from the Google Play Store, you can also download it from our APK directory.

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