Japan’s KDDI signs contract for Samsung 5G network equipment

Samsung will supply Japan’s second-largest mobile carrier, KDDI, with 5G network equipment. According to a Samsung official cited by The Korea Times, the company “[…] won a contract to supply its 5G network equipment to KDDI,” however, the value of the contract was not disclosed.

KDDI and Samsung have been testing 5G equipment over the past few years. In 2018 the companies showcased the power of 5G by successfully conducting a real-time free-viewpoint video stream test. Therefore, KDDI’s decision to acquire 5G network equipment from Samsung isn’t unexpected, especially since Huawei was banned from official contracts last year by the Japanese government.

Nevertheless, Samsung will not be the only company responsible for building KDDI’s 5G infrastructure. The Korean tech giant will work alongside Ericsson and Nokia to complete the contract over the next five years.

2020 is the year of 5G

Japan is reportedly making a greater effort towards implementing 5G before the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Samsung aims to secure 20 percent of the global network equipment market by 2020, and the contract with KDDI brings the company one step closer to its goal. Samsung is, of course, an official Worldwide Olympic Partner and is bound to sponsor the 2020 Tokyo Olympics despite the trade tensions between Japan and South Korea.

Samsung Mobile is one of the few OEMs to offer 5G-capable smartphones and has already unveiled its first 5G integrated chipset, the Exynos 980. It’s going to enter mass production by the end of the year and could power devices from the Galaxy A (2020) series.

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Where to find the AR Doodle camera feature on the Galaxy S10

AR Doodle is a camera feature that debuted on the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+, but it didn’t stay exclusive to the two Notes for long as Samsung brought it over to the Galaxy S10 lineup with a software update starting September 23. AR Doodle is a fun little video recording feature that allows you to draw on top of whatever it is you’re recording with the phone’s camera. These drawings — doodles, to be more precise — maintain their original position, so if you doodle something on a person’s face, the doodle will follow the face as the camera moves around and will show up every time that’s person’s face is in the frame.

AR Doodle also works for videos without people in them. In such videos, each doodle will stay fixed in the place where you drew them, and the doodle will show up every time the camera is aimed at that place. AR Doodle is loads of fun, and while the S Pen on the Galaxy Note 10/10+ makes for sharper doodles, the feature works pretty well on the Galaxy S10 lineup as well. You can use AR Doodle for both the front and rear cameras (you can only doodle on faces with the front camera) and create doodles in real-time while a video is being recorded or doodle before you start video recording.

Check out the video below for a short glimpse on what AR Doodle is all about. This is from our Galaxy Note 10+ review, and the AR Doodle bit comes up at the 2 minute 20 second mark and goes on until the 2 minute 39 second mark.

The software update that introduces AR Doodle to the Galaxy S10e/S10/S10+ is being released in stages and will take time to reach all countries and all users, but those who have received the update already might be wondering where the AR Doodle feature is located. On the Galaxy Note 10/10+, it can be accessed from the S Pen’s dedicated Air Command menu; on the Galaxy S10, it can be found in the camera’s video recording mode.

AR Doodle is accessed from the camera’s video recording mode

Here’s what you need to do to fire up AR Doodle on the Galaxy S10e, S10, or S10+: Open the Camera app, switch to the Video mode, then hit the AR Doodle icon on the top right corner of the display (see the icon marked in red in the screenshot below). You will be taken to the AR Doodle interface, where you can switch between Face and Everywhere mode depending on whether it’s someone’s face you wish to doodle on or on your general surroundings and also find a variety of pen styles and font colors to choose from.

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Samsung opens a showcase venue for ‘The Wall’ displays in Korea

Samsung has opened a new showcase venue for ‘The Wall’ displays in Korea today. The ‘experience space’ is set up at ODEPort, a high-end audio store in Seoul’s Gangnam district. This is the first such showcase in Korea and the third one globally. The other two venues are the Harrods department store and the Samsung KX experience center – both of which are in London.

The Korean tech giant is displaying the 146-inch ‘The Wall Luxury’ screen at the new outlet. The company has collaborated with the Danish audio brand ODE for the showcase, enabling Visitors to experience ‘The Wall Luxury’ modular display combined with ODE’s high-end Steinway Lyngdorf audio system ‘Model O.’

The Wall showcase will operate on a 1: 1 reservation basis, whereby the company’s representatives will provide visitors with customized concierge services such as consulting, experience, purchasing, installation, etc.

The Wall lineup is currently Samsung’s most premium display offering. Though these high-end screens can be used as TVs, the company prefers not to use that term. These are MicroLED panels that are technologically superior to both QLEDs and OLEDs. First unveiled at CES 2018, the size of these high-end displays can be customized by adding or removing the bezel-less display models.

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Samsung Q3 2019 operating profit may fall by 60%

Samsung has been facing a challenging business environment for the past few quarters. That was reflected in the company’s bottom line. Its profit plunged by 56 percent in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

The primary reason is the supply glut of NAND flash and DRAM chips. Semiconductors account for a significant chunk of the company’s revenues and as prices have declined, so have its profits. Analysts now predict a 60.2 percent decline in Samsung’s Q3 2019 operating profit compared to Q3 2018. The projected figures will actually be an improvement compared to the second quarter of this year.

Samsung Q3 2019 operating profit shows slight improvement

Q3 2018 was a particularly good quarter for Samsung. It posted over $15.5 billion in operating profit on revenues of over $57.5 billion. It actually smashed its own record for the highest profit ever in a single quarter. It was driven to this peak due to the stellar performance of the semiconductor business. Samsung did warn back then that it expected earnings to drop in the following quarters due to weak seasonality for the semiconductor market.

The first and second quarters of this year saw a considerable decline in revenues and profits as demand didn’t pick up in the semiconductor market. Seasonal weakness also led to weak overall market demand for smartphones. Samsung did expect things to look up in the second half of this year with demand for NAND and DRAM increasing. The new Galaxy Note series would provide a much-needed boost to its mobile division as well.

Seoul-based financial data provider FnGuide has compiled analysts’ estimates for Samsung’s Q3 2019 operating profit which come in at $5.83 billion for the July-September period, a slight increase over the $5.6 billion operating profit posted in Q2 2019. Revenues are projected to hit almost $50 billion compared to $48 billion in the previous quarter. This will actually be the first time that revenues will hit this mark after the third quarter of last year.

Analysts attribute the slight improvement in Samsung’s financials to strong demand for its latest premium smartphones, higher demand for semiconductors and a favorable exchange rate environment. Samsung will release its earnings guidance for the third quarter early next month.

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Flipkart India offering huge discount on Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+

As part of its ongoing Big Billion Days sale, Indian retailer Flipkart is selling the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ at a considerable discount. The regular Galaxy S9 is available from Flipkart for Rs. 29,999 (~$425), nearly 52% off its maximum retail price, while the S9+ can be purchased for Rs. 34,999 (~$495), or 50% less than its maximum retail price. It’s worth noting that Flipkart has jacked up the list price to make the discounts seem bigger than they actually are, but both phones are nonetheless available for very attractive prices as part of the promotion.

Samsung India has the same discount for the Galaxy S9 on its official store but is selling the S9+ for Rs. 61,900; combined with faster delivery times, Flipkart is where those interested in either phone should make the purchase. The Galaxy S9+ in particular is a very attractive option here. It may be more than a year old at this point, but its specs are still solid and include many of the same features as the Galaxy S10, like powerful stereo speakers and a 12MP Dual Aperture rear camera with dedicated Night mode. It’s powered by the Exynos 9810 SoC, has 6GB of RAM, and runs Android Pie and will get an update to Android 10.

Head on over to Flipkart.com to buy the Galaxy S9 (link) or S9+ (link). Do hurry, as the deal may not last very long. If you have a more limited budget, you can also look at the Galaxy M30s, which went on sale in the country over the weekend and offers amazing value for money.

Galaxy S9

• Model: SM-G960F
• Dimensions: 147.7 x 68.7 x 8.5mm
• Display: 5.8” (146.5mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9810
• Camera: 12 MP, CMOS OIS (F1.5/F2.4)

More specifications

Galaxy S9+

• Model: SM-G965F
• Dimensions: 157.7 x 73.8 x 8.5 mm
• Display: 6.2” (158.1mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9810
• Camera: 12 MP, CMOS Dual OIS (F1.5/F2.4) & Telephoto: 12MP AF F2.4)

More specifications

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Get free Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Fit with Galaxy Note 10+ in the US

As a limited time offer, Samsung is giving away a Galaxy Fit and the Galaxy Buds for free with every Galaxy Note 10+ purchase in the US. Bought separately, the Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Fit would set you back by $229.98, making this is a pretty impressive deal for what is Samsung’s most impressive Galaxy Note flagship yet. And the free Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Fit make sense when you consider that the Note 10+ does not have either a 3.5mm headphone jack or a heart rate sensor, two features that were once taken for granted on Samsung’s flagship phones.

Samsung isn’t limiting the deal to any particular storage, color, or carrier variant of the Note 10+. You can go with any carrier of your choice or select the unlocked variant – you can also grab the 5G Galaxy Note 10+ from Verizon if you like. The free Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Fit will be added to your order automatically once you’ve made your storage, carrier, and color choices, but if you don’t want these wearables, you can instead opt for $200 of Samsung.com credit that you can spend on buying a different product from the company’s official website.

In addition to the free wearables (or the $200 credit), customers also get free access to Spotify Premium and YouTube Premium for six and four months respectively, an offer that is also applicable to the regular Galaxy Note 10. If you’ve been looking to buy a Galaxy Note 10+ in the US, this may be the perfect time to pick one up, so go ahead and visit Samsung’s website to make the purchase.

Don’t forget to check out our Galaxy Buds review and Galaxy Fit review to see what these two devices are all about.

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October security update rolling out for the Galaxy A50

Galaxy A50 owners who have been wondering why Samsung hasn’t yet sent out the September security update for their device are in for a surprise: The Korean giant has decided to skip ahead to the October security patch for the Galaxy A50 and is rolling out an update with the next month’s patch in some countries. The update, carrying software version A505FNXXS2ASJ1, is out in Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and a few countries in Southeast Europe.

For now, we don’t know if the update also brings something of note other than a security patch from the future. And, as it’s not October yet, neither Google nor Samsung has posted details of the vulnerabilities that have been fixed in the October patch, so we’re currently in the dark as to what is included in the newest Galaxy A50 update. But if you own the device and have received the update, you can tell us if you see something in the changelog about new features or improvements by leaving a comment down below.

We should note that it’s possible Samsung will not skip the September patch for the Galaxy A50 in every country or bring the October patch to everyone, as the A50 is in the quarterly schedule for security updates and is technically not expected to be updated every month. To check if the update is available for you, open the Settings app on your A50, tap Software update, then select the Download and install option. You can also choose to upgrade by downloading the firmware for the latest update from our firmware archive and flashing it manually on your phone using a Windows PC.

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