Samsung reportedly wants to sell 1.5 million QLED TVs in 2018

Samsung wants to further expand its position in the global premium TV market which is why the company has reportedly set an internal goal to sell 1.5 million units of its QLED TVs in 2018. It’s a very ambitious target considering the fact that the company is believed to have sold 1 million units just last year. If it’s able to achieve this figure it would translate into a 50 percent surge in sales in just one year.

Samsung wants to dominate the premium TV market again

Industry sources told The Korea Herald that Samsung’s display unit has set a goal to sell 1.5 million QLED TVs in 2018 to expand the gap to its competitors in the global premium TV market. If the company sells more of these expensive TVs, it will be able to raise the average selling price of its total sales volume.

Samsung is facing stiff competition in this market so it will really have to focus all of its energies to ensure that it can meet this goal. “The strategy is to raise its revenue by concentrating on selling super-sized TVs,” said an unnamed Samsung official cited in the report.

Some industry watchers are of the view that Samsung is set this ambitious goal because it wants to reclaim the lead in the global premium TV market after slipping to third place for the first time in 12 years last year after Sony and LG took the first two places.

The company unveiled its 2018 QLED TV lineup about three weeks ago in New York. It brings design innovations and new technological advancements such as Direct Fully Array contrast technology. It’s also the first smart TV lineup from Samsung to feature Bixby integration.

Samsung revealed the prices for its 2018 QLED TV lineup only recently, the new range starts at $1,500 and goes all the way up to $6,000. It’s offering the new models in different screen sizes ranging from 49-inches to 82-inches with both curved and flat panels.

Whether or not Samsung is able to achieve this goal to sell 1.5 million QLED TVs this year remains to be seen.

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Samsung and KDDI conduct 5G trial in Japan with prototype tablets

Samsung and KDDI have been working closely to showcase the potential and performance of 5G in real-life scenarios since 2015. In December last year, the companies ventured out to demonstrate 5G connectivity on a moving train for the first time. Continuing their collaboration, Samsung and KDDI have now announced the successful completion of a 5G field trial at the Okinawa Cellular Stadium in Japan.

Samsung’s end-to-end 5G solutions were deployed

As is the case with many 5G trials involving Samsung, the company’s end-to-end 5G solutions were been deployed to conduct the trial. The trial, which involved streaming and downloading the live 4K feed simultaneously on the prototype 5G tablets, used Samsung’s virtualized core, virtualized RAN, 5G access units, and prototype 5G tablet devices. Samsung says this is the first time 5G performance has been tested in Japan using 5G tablets.

To create 5G coverage area in the direction of home plate and first and third bases, Samsung’s 5G access units were installed on a light tower outside the left field fence. The tablets placed on seats in the coverage area where then able to stream and download 4K live feed via 5G. Samsung and KDDI used the 28GHz band for this trial.

“5G holds the powerful potential to create new user experiences and business models that are more immersive and dynamic than ever before,” said Youngky Kim, President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics.

The results of this 5G stadium trial demonstrate the suitability and performance of 5G in a wide variety of crowded environments such as sporting events, live music concerts, exhibitions, conferences, etc. The successful completion of this trial brings the commercial launch of 5G networks one step closer.

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You can now use Samsung Pay in Dubai to pay your taxi fare

Paying your taxi fare in Dubai just got a lot easier. You can now use Samsung Pay in Dubai to settle your fare as taxis are now capable of accepting this payment method. Samsung Pay was originally launched in the United Arab Emirates in April last year, allowing users in the country to make payments on the go effortlessly using their smartphones.

Use Samsung Pay in Dubai to pay taxi fare

The United Arab Emirates became the first country in the Middle East to welcome Samsung’s mobile payments service last year. The service utilizes Magnetic Secure Transmission technology and Near Field Communication to replicate a card swipe, thus enabling merchants to accept Samsung Pay even if they don’t have any special terminals. They can simply use their existing card machines.

Samsung Pay was supported by major UAE banks at launch, including HSBC, Emirates NBD, ADCB, Mashreq, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Standard Chartered and others. Samsung also partnered with major payment networks such as Visa and Mastercard to ensure that the service was available to more consumers in this market.

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is now allowing the use of smartphones to pay for taxi fares in the emirate. Network International, the company that providers POS services to RTA, has enabled this functionality in Dubai taxis. More than 8,000 taxis in the emirate will now allow passengers to use Samsung Pay in Dubai to settle their fares.

“The service is aimed to offer taxi riders smooth payment options that raise their satisfaction and happiness,” said RTA Public Transport Agency’s CEO Ahmad Hashim Behroozian. He added that this is part of the government’s Smart City initiative.

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Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy A7 receive latest security patch

As we approach the end of the month, Samsung is rolling out the latest security maintenance release to more supported devices. It has released the March 2018 security patch today for the Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy A7 (2017). The relevant firmware files are now available for download.

March 2018 security patch rolling out to more devices

Samsung detailed the March 2018 security patch over three weeks ago. It brings all of the fixes that are part and parcel of Google’s Android Security Bulletin – March 2018 package.

The update fixes nine critical vulnerabilities in the Android operating system aside from scores of moderate-risk and high-risk vulnerabilities. It brings fixes for five Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items as well which were discovered in Samsung’s software.

The March 2018 security patch has only been released for a handful of devices so far including the Galaxy A8 (2018), Galaxy S9, Galaxy J2 Prime, Galaxy S8/S8+ and others. We can expect it to make its way to more compatible devices in the coming days.

Samsung has rolled out firmware version N950NKSU3CRC2 for the Galaxy Note 8 in South Korea. The relevant file is now available for download from our firmware section. Firmware version G930FXXS2DRC3 is now out for the Galaxy S7 in several markets including the Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic. It’s also readily available for download.

Last but not the least, the Galaxy A7 (2017) has received firmware version A720FXXU3BRC2 in South Africa so far. You can download the file from our firmware section.

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Galaxy Note 8 Oreo update will be out for all US variants in 2-3 weeks

Samsung finally released the Galaxy Note 8 Oreo update on March 16 and it’s now being rolled out gradually in more markets across the globe. The firmware for the international unlocked variant is already available for download. Galaxy Note 8 owners in the United States have yet to receive the update and the company has now revealed that it’s going to release the Galaxy Note 8 Oreo update for all US variants in 2-3 weeks. It has also made a similar promise for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.

Galaxy Note 8 Oreo update

All four major carriers – Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint – have released the Android 8.0 Oreo update for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ on their networks. However, the update hasn’t been released for the unlocked variant in the United States.

As you can probably imagine, those who own the unlocked variants aren’t pleased as they were mostly purchased with the hope that they will receive updates ahead of their carrier-locked counterparts. Mobile carriers tend to delay updates because they run their own tests before rolling out the firmware.

However, they only have to test the firmware to ensure that it works properly on their network. Samsung points out in a post on its official US forums that unlocked models have to go through more rigorous testing than the carrier-locked models because the company needs to make sure that proper network functionality has been achieved across all supported networks.

The company says that this is why the unlocked Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ haven’t received Oreo in the United States as yet even though the country’s major carriers have rolled it out already. The handsets should receive it in a couple of weeks. The rollout is yet to begin for the Galaxy Note 8, though.

Samsung has also confirmed in its post that it’s going to release the Galaxy Note 8 Oreo update for both the carrier-locked and unlocked variants in the next “2-3 weeks.” We’ll be sure to let you know when the firmware starts rolling out.

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Galaxy J7 Prime 2 listed on Samsung India’s website ahead of launch

Samsung has quietly listed the Galaxy J7 Prime 2 on its Indian website. From the specifications listed on the product page, the new device appears to be a minor upgrade to the Galaxy J7 Prime.

Galaxy J7 Prime 2 sports a metal unibody with capacitive buttons and a fingerprint reader on the front. It has a 5.5-inch full HD TFT display with Gorilla Glass protection. Under the hood, it is powered by an octa-core Exynos 7 chipset and 3 GB of RAM. Samsung doesn’t specify the exact processor, but all bets are on the Exynos 7870 chipset used in many other Galaxy J series phones. The phone comes with 32 GB internal memory along with a microSD card slot for expansion.

The 4G VoLTE-enabled device has a 3300 mAh battery and charges via a micro-USB port. The device runs Android Nougat which is disappointing as even Oreo will soon be succeeded by Android P. Google has already released the first official Android P developer preview build this month. Both the front and the back cameras are 13 megapixels with an f1.9 aperture for better lowlight performance. The camera also offers social features such as live filters, live stickers, instant sharing, and instant editing, etc.

Samsung Mall and Samsung Pay Mini onboard

Samsung Mall app, which made its appearance first on the Galaxy On7 Prime, will come preinstalled on the phone to assist users in shopping online. With the ‘Visual Search’ option, users can shoot or use existing pictures of any product to search across multiple shopping sites. The app offers all-in-one shopping and universal cart to compare, review and buy products from multiple sites through a single interface.

Samsung Pay Mini, a stripped-down version of the popular Samsung Pay app, is also preloaded on the Galaxy J7 Prime 2. Samsung Pay Mini lacks MST and NFC-based payment options and instead relies on India-specific UPI (Unified Payments Interface) and mobile wallets like Paytm for making payments. It is mostly a glorified wallet of wallets.

The product page lists the price as INR 13,990 ($215) with a ‘Sold-Out’ tag and ‘Notify me’ option. It appears someone at Samsung has jumped the gun and listed the product online before Samsung could make it official and kickstart the sales.

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Samsung apologizes for poor performance in China, vows to do more

Samsung was once the dominant player in China, the most lucrative smartphone market on the planet. However, not only did Samsung lose its lead in the country but its market share in China is now in the low single digits. Samsung predicts a reversal in its fortunes in this key market as it acknowledged today that it had failed to fully understand China’s retail and commerce customs earlier. He previously said that Samsung will continue to make efforts to grow as a “truly localized” Chinese company.

Head of Samsung’s mobile division DJ Koh apologized to shareholders for the falling market share in China at the company’s annual shareholders meeting today. He said that China is a more complicated market and that Samsung is now trying different approaches to bring in new customers.

Samsung’s market share in China is less than 2 percent

It’s mission-critical for Samsung in China as its market share dropped below 2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. Not one Samsung handset could make it on the 2017 list of bestselling smartphones in the country. It has almost been driven out of the market by Apple in the high-end segment and local manufacturers who have not only captured the premium segment but also dominate the mid-range and low-end segments. These manufacturers have also proven to be a headache for Samsung in key markets outside China.

Samsung decided to make some organizational changes to its China division in September last year in a bid to reignite growth. It streamlined operations and replaced the local chiefs but it might be a while before the results of these actions, positive or otherwise, become visible.

The company said during the Galaxy S9 launch in China two weeks ago that its strategy for the country now involves more focus on customers that are willing to purchase premium handsets. It has also inked partnerships with local service providers such as Mobike, Alibaba, WeChat, Baidu and others to provide enhanced artificial intelligence features and additional IoT-based services to customers in the country.

It remains to be seen, though, if these measures pay off. Given the sheer size of the Chinese smartphone market if Samsung is able to regain some of its lost market share it would only help cement its position as the top smartphone vendor in the world even further.

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