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الأربعاء، 3 يوليو 2019

Samsung’s Q2 profit likely took a big hit due to poor memory chip sales

Samsung’s smartphones may get a lot of media coverage, but they are not the major contributor to the company’s bottom line. That title has been held by the company’s semiconductor business for many years now. So, when the US government came down heavily on Huawei, more than helping Samsung’s smartphone revenue, the move probably harmed the company’s semiconductor business, which counts Huawei as a client.

A report in Reuters says Samsung Electronics’ Q2 profit may be halved due to a substantial drop in memory chip sales. The situation is believed to be further exacerbated by Huawei’s growing woes, resulting in a likely drop in overall quarterly profit when Samsung reports its preliminary earnings on Friday. If the earnings pan out as predicted, it will be the Korean company’s lowest in nearly three years. Analysts believe Samsung will report a 60% drop in April-June operating profit at 6 trillion won ($5.14 billion).

The memory chip market is reeling from oversupply, bringing down the prices in an already slowing market. Analysts believe Samsung’s recovery is at least a few quarters away. Though Samsung stands to gain in the global smartphone market where Huawei is currently the second largest vendor, the likely gains are no match to the erosion of profits from its semiconductor business which accounts for nearly two-thirds of the company’s overall profit.

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Samsung fixed the Galaxy Fold and it may be out by the holiday season

Despite admitting that the Galaxy Fold’s launch had been rushed, Samsung mobile CEO DJ Koh didn’t say when the device would be released. He did mention that over 2,000 units were constantly being tested to ensure that there are no further problems after the relaunch. His comments were very much meant to dispel the rumors that Samsung had given up on the device.

A new report says that Samsung has now completed its two-month redesign of the Galaxy Fold to fix the screen failures. With mass production set to begin soon, the Galaxy Fold can now be expected to arrive in time for the holiday season.

Galaxy Fold may arrive before the holiday season

Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports that Samsung is now in the final stages of producing a commercial version of the Galaxy Fold. However, it hasn’t pinned down a date yet to begin sales. The April 26 release was delayed because it wasn’t abundantly clear to many that peeling the protective layer on top of the display would cause it to break. The hinge gaps also didn’t provide adequate protection against foreign substances making their way inside.

The report says that this protective film has now been stretched to wrap around the entire foldable display. It flows into the outer bezels so that it’s impossible to peel off by hand. Samsung has also re-engineered the hinge. It’s now pushing slightly upward from the screen and is flush with the display.

This is to help the film stretch further when the phone is unfolded. This tension is what makes the film feel harder and a more natural part of the device instead of something like a screen protector. That’s what many reviewers mistook it for initially and just peeled it off. This added rigidity may also reduce the chance of a crease forming in the middle of the screen, a source mentions.

Samsung will reportedly be shipping major components for the Galaxy Fold such as the display and battery to a plant in Vietnam for assembly. The launch date is still being debated but it remains unlikely that the Galaxy Fold will be relaunched alongside the Galaxy Note 10 on August 7. Samsung hasn’t commented on this report.

The company would certainly want its marquee device of the year to be out before the lucrative holiday shopping season. So while it seemingly won’t be available in a few weeks time, it does seem like it’s not going to be too long before we can finally get our hands on the Galaxy Fold once again.

The post Samsung fixed the Galaxy Fold and it may be out by the holiday season appeared first on SamMobile.

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الثلاثاء، 2 يوليو 2019

Verizon Galaxy S10 gets camera Night mode with latest security update

Verizon’s latest Galaxy S10 security update comes with the dedicated camera Night mode. AT&T and Verizon released an update with the June 2019 security patch for the Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+ today, and it has now been confirmed that both carriers have bundled the new camera features that Samsung introduced to unlocked Exynos versions of its latest flagships a few weeks ago.

The features include the aforementioned dedicated Night mode for the camera for enhanced low-light photography and QR code scanning functionality without the use of Bixby Vision. The June update for international models also introduced vibration feedback for navigation gestures, but it doesn’t seem to be included in the update Verizon and AT&T have released. Verizon is pushing One Talk support as well – the One Talk service lets users tie the desk phone in their office and their smartphone to one number and rings them all at the same time when a call comes in.

For T-Mobile customers, the June update does not have any of these new features; fingers crossed that will change when the July security update comes out in the next few weeks. As for Sprint, it is yet to release the June security update so there’s no telling if it will follow in Verizon or AT&T’s footsteps or make people wait another month or two like T-Mobile.

If you own a Galaxy S10 on Verizon or AT&T, you can download the update over the air from the Software update menu of your phone’s Settings app. Do let us know if the update brings vibration feedback for navigation gestures by leaving a comment down below, and also tell us how you like the new camera Night mode after you’ve upgraded to the latest software!

Galaxy S10e

Model: SM-G970U
Dimensions: 69.9 x 142.2 x 7.9mm
Display: 5.8” (146.5mm) Super AMOLED
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
Camera: 12 MP, CMOS F1.5/F2.4 (77°) & 16MP, CMOS F2.2 (123°)Ultra Wide

More specifications

Galaxy S10

Model: SM-G973U
Dimensions: 70.4 x 149.9 x 7.8mm
Display: 6.1"(157.5mm) Super AMOLED
CPU: Exynos 9820 Octa
Camera: 12 MP.CMOS F2.4 45° Telephoto & 12MP F1.5 77° & 16MP F2.2 123° Ultra-wide

More specifications

Galaxy S10 Plus

Model: SM-G975U
Dimensions: 74.1 x 157.6 x 7.8mm
Display: 6.4"(162.5mm) Super AMOLED
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
Camera: 12 MP.CMOS F2.4 45° Telephoto & 12MP F1.5/F2.4 77° & 16MP F2.2 123° Ultra-wide

More specifications

The post Verizon Galaxy S10 gets camera Night mode with latest security update appeared first on SamMobile.

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AI-powered ‘Samsung Mall’ shopping app bites the dust

Samsung has discontinued the Samsung Mall shopping app a year and a half after its launch. The shutdown was expected as the Korean company started notifying the app’s users since May this year that the service will no longer be available after June 30. Users opening the Samsung Mall app after June are greeted with a message about the discontinuation of the service and asking them to uninstall the app.

While Samsung hasn’t offered any reasons for the shutdown, it is most probably due to lack of customer interest in the service. Before its demise, the app had more than 5 million downloads on the Play Store, most of which were probably from pre-installations on Samsung’s budget devices. The company has now removed the app from the Google Play Store.

The Korean tech giant debuted the Samsung Mall app on the Galaxy On7 Prime in January 2018. It was an AI-backed shopping app that was exclusive to the Galaxy customers in India. The app enabled users to shoot or use an existing picture of any product to initiate an AI-powered visual search across multiple shopping sites, compare prices, and make purchases from within the app.

While the idea sounds nice in concept, it never really offered any value to the customers. Shopping directly on partner sites such as Amazon, TATA CliQ, Shopclues, Jabong, and others made more sense, both in terms of cost and convenience, than buying through the Samsung Mall app.

The post AI-powered ‘Samsung Mall’ shopping app bites the dust appeared first on SamMobile.

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Our Galaxy A80 video preview is up! Come check out the slider

The Galaxy A80 went on sale yesterday and we got our hands on a unit, which means that we’ve prepared an early video preview to briefly showcase some of the smartphone’s most striking features. As we mention in our preview, the Galaxy A80 is a very interesting device because it tries to play with the big boys even though it’s not technically a flagship.

The most eye-catching feature of the Galaxy A80 is, of course, the sliding rotating camera which you can see in action, up close, in our video preview below. For Samsung, this component represents a unique approach to the idea of creating a full-screen display without notches or punch holes. The rotating camera can be used for both selfie and landscape photography, and this means that the quality of your photos will be the same regardless of which way the camera is facing.

The Galaxy A80 detects when it’s dropped and retracts the camera

There are some concerns surrounding the Galaxy A80, particularly because Samsung is covering new ground with this device. It features a moving part after all, and only the passage of time will tell how the sliding mechanism will hold up over extensive use.

The good news is that Samsung seems to have put some extra effort towards protecting the sliding mechanism. The phone actually detects if it has been dropped, similar to the OnePlus 7 Pro. This allows the mechanism to retract automatically; hopefully by the time the phone hits the ground. We’ll test this feature safely and more thoroughly for our full video review which should go live later this month, so stay tuned to SamMobile TV.

It’s not all gravy

The Galaxy A80 does make some sacrifices in a couple of areas that some smartphone users might consider vital to their experience. Specifically, the phone lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack and expandable storage. The latter might not be too big of an issue given that the handset sports 128GB of built-in memory, but the lack of a 3.5mm jack will likely turn off some prospective buyers. And for better or worse, the headphone jack’s removal is becoming more of a common theme among Galaxy smartphones.

We’ll be taking a much more detailed look at the Galaxy A80 over the next couple of weeks in preparation of our full video review. Until next time, check out the video preview below and enjoy!

The post Our Galaxy A80 video preview is up! Come check out the slider appeared first on SamMobile.

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Samsung develops new On-Device NPU tech for faster, smarter AI

As Samsung is pushing further with the development of its proprietary NPUs (Neural Processing Unit), the company has created a new high-speed, low-power On-Device AI deep learning algorithm promising 4 times more energy efficiency and 8 times more performance than existing solutions. The Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) detailed the new On-Device AI technology in a recent paper claiming that the algorithm has been successfully tested. It should pave the way for a future in which “all devices and sensor-based technologies are powered by AI.”

This increase in performance and energy efficiency has been achieved “by adjusting the data into groups of under 4 bits while maintaining accurate data recognition,” or what the company calls Quantization Interval Learning (QIL). Computations performed using the QIL process can achieve results similar to existing solutions while requiring 1/40 to 1/120 fewer transistors.

This method of compressing data into bit groups of 4 bits or lower allows for thousands of deep learning computations to be processed at the same time. It also allows for “and” and “or” computations to be performed in addition to arithmetic calculations such as multiplication.

Smartphones will become smarter and independent of the cloud with better On-Device NPUs

While Samsung hasn’t revealed exactly when this new solution will reach the market in consumer-grade devices, the company strongly hinted at its inclusion in smartphones at some point in the future. The new deep learning algorithm requires less energy and hardware, meaning that it can be adopted by On-Device NPUs “at the place where the data for an image or fingerprint sensor is being obtained.”

The Exynos 9820 chipset is the company’s first to feature an integrated proprietary NPU and it already expanded the capabilities of the Galaxy S10 series with enhanced photography and more advanced Augmented Reality features.

With a faster, less demanding On-Device solution now being in the works, we can only expect that features such as photography and AR will become smarter, faster, and more accurate with the new generation of devices.

But Samsung won’t stop at mobile chipsets. The company also revealed that it wants to apply this new deep learning algorithm to memory and sensor solutions in the near future. “We will live in a world where all devices and sensor-based technologies are powered by AI” according to the VP of Computer Vision Lab of SAIT, Chang-Kyu Choi. And the future is all about embracing On-Device AI technologies rather than relying too much on cloud-based AI solutions.

The post Samsung develops new On-Device NPU tech for faster, smarter AI appeared first on SamMobile.

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Galaxy S10 series outsells its predecessor in the first quarter

The Galaxy S10 series has surpassed the Galaxy S9 in terms of sales figures for the quarter ending May 2019. According to Korean news agencies citing Counterpoint Research, Samsung managed to sell around 16 million Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+ units combined. This represents a 12 percent increase over the sales figures registered by the Galaxy S9 models in the same period last year.

Interestingly, the data shows that the Galaxy S10+ is the most sought-after model of the three. It accounted for 42 percent of sales, which means that roughly 6.7 million units have been adopted by customers. The standard Galaxy S10 is the second most popular model covering 32 percent of sales (5.1 million units). Lastly, the more affordable Galaxy S10e covered roughly 22 percent of sales with Samsung pushing around 3.5 million units.

The Galaxy S10 5G was not included in the analysis

The Galaxy S10 5G – which was released later than the aforementioned three models – was not included in the data. However, last week it was revealed that the 5G variant is already highly successful in countries like South Korea, where the device reportedly passed the 1 million mark in less than three months of availability.

According to the research firm, the success of the Galaxy S10 series also contributed to a higher premium smartphone global market share for Samsung. The company took 25 percent of the premium smartphone market in the first quarter of 2019, up from 23 percent in Q1 2018. The three flagships also boosted the company’s market presence in the US while overall smartphone sales have declined, according to an earlier Canalys report.

It’s not very surprising that the Galaxy S10 series is a hit, more so than the Galaxy S9 was. The writing was on the wall after this year’s flagship series managed to outsell its predecessor in its opening week in the United States, albeit, mostly thanks to the inclusion of the Galaxy S10e.