Samsung’s Vietnam problem is about to get a whole lot worse

Vietnam’s former capital Ho Chi Minh city is all set to enter a new lockdown due to rising COVID-19 cases in the region. The new measures will disallow citizens from moving about freely and require commercial establishments to operate with limited staff. As a result, Samsung’s manufacturing facilities in the region are slated to take a hit.

Located at Saigon Hi-Tech Park, Samsung Electronics’ factory produces smart TVs and other household appliances. It employs over 7,000 employees and the products are shipped to a wide variety of markets, including the USA, Europe and Southeast Asia.

Samsung’s plant in Ho Chi Minh will be hit hard

Until now, Samsung had skirted around the restrictions by having workers sleep in the factory or at locations nearby. It is also worth noting that the plant had been operating at 30-40% capacity due to the aforementioned restrictions.

This drop in productivity couldn’t come at a worse time, as the festive season will be upon us soon. Samsung will incur losses worth 17 billion won ($145 million) every day the plant remains shut.

However, we can expect Samsung to negotiate some workaround with the Vietnamese authorities. In the past, Samsung Display employees got special access to enter the country amid tight lockdown restrictions. For the most part, Samsung-branded devices have been largely immune to the global semiconductor shortage, but the disruption in its Vietnam facilities could change that.

Samsung’s smartphone manufacturing facilities are unaffected at the moment, as they are located elsewhere. It should ensure a steady supply of smartphones for the foreseeable future. Besides, there are additional facilities in countries like India which can help pick up the slack should the plant in Vietnam face any difficulties.

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Galaxy Watch 4 vs Galaxy Watch Active: Samsung shakes things up

The Galaxy Watch Active may have been released six months after the original Galaxy Watch but it couldn’t be considered its successor. This was a more fitness-focused watch with an identity of its own. Samsung made one change to the Galaxy Watch Active that didn’t sit well with fans. It ditched the physical rotating bezel.

We have come a long way since the Galaxy Watch Active was released. Samsung had released a couple of other models since then. The ones it has launched just now, though, are unlike any we’ve seen from the company so far.

Galaxy Watch 4 vs Galaxy Watch Active

The Galaxy Watch Active was only available in the 40mm size with a 1.1-inch display. Samsung’s latest Galaxy Watch 4, the one without the rotating bezel, is available in 40mm and 44mm sizes with a 1.19-inch and 1.36-inch display respectively. These are also much higher resolution displays.

All of Samsung’s smartwatches since 2018 have more or less had the same specs. The company has only just changed that with the Galaxy Watch 4. It comes with the first 5nm processor on a Samsung smartwatch, the Exynos W920.

The new chipset delivers 1.25x CPU and 10x GPU performance compared to the Galaxy Watch Active’s Exynos 9110. The new smartwatches also have double the amount of RAM at 1.5GB and four times the RAM at 16GB.

The Galaxy Watch Active supported automatic tracking for six routines, the Galaxy Watch 4 can do it for many more. The latter also gets advanced health and fitness features like ECG, oxygen saturation monitoring, fall detection, body composition analysis and more.

The biggest change to impact the user experience is the platform used to run the new smartwatch. While the Galaxy Watch Active ran on Tizen like others before it, the Galaxy Watch 4 runs on the new Wear OS Android-based platform that Samsung has worked on with Google. This means that the new watches can run Android apps.

That’s one of the reasons why Samsung gave the new wearables such a boost in the performance department. Samsung fans who have been waiting for the company to shake things up in the wearables department will certainly be pleased.

Do check out the full Galaxy Watch 4 vs Galaxy Watch Active specs comparison below. Stay tuned for the detailed Galaxy Watch 4 review that’ll go up in due course.

Interested in Samsung’s new Galaxy devices? Don’t forget to support SamMobile by visiting this link and purchasing it directly from Samsung!

Galaxy Watch 4 Classic (42mm)

VS.

Galaxy Watch Active (40mm)

Full comparison

General Information
Model name	Galaxy Watch 4 Classic (42mm)	Galaxy Watch Active (40mm)
Model number	SM-R880	SM-R500
Model type	Wearable	Wearable
Color	Silver (Silver) Black (Black)	Sliver (Sliver) Black (Black) Rose Gold (Rose Gold) Green (Green)
Announced	2021, August	2019, February
Released	2021, August	2019, February
Physical Specifications
Dimensions	Watch: 41.5 x 41.5 x 11.2 mm	Watch: 39.5 x 39.5 x 10.5 mm
Weights	46.5g	25g
Operating System
Operating system	Wear OS	Tizen Based Wearable OS 4.0
One UI version	Watch 3.0
Network
Networks	4G
Display
Kind	Main Display	Main Display
Technology	Circular Super AMOLED	Circular Super AMOLED
Size	1.2 inch / 30.4 mm	1.1 inch / 27.94 mm
Resolution	/ 396x396 pixels	/ 360x360 pixels
Pixel density	330 PPI	302 PPI
Screen to body ratio	%	%
Memory
RAM/ROM sizes	1.5 GB RAM with 16 GB ROM	768 MB RAM with 4 GB ROM
Battery
Standard battery capacity	247 mAh	230 mAh
View full comparison »

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Galaxy A31 picks up the August 2021 security update

Samsung has started rolling out the August 2021 security update to the Galaxy A31. The company had started releasing the latest security patch in the last week of July, and the Galaxy A52 was the first phone to get the update. Since then, the South Korean firm has updated a bunch of Galaxy devices with this security patch.

The Galaxy A31 started getting the new software update in Brazil and Colombia on Saturday. The new update bears firmware version A315GDXU1CUG5 and includes the August 2021 security patch. A couple of weeks ago, Samsung had revealed that its newest security patch fixes 40 vulnerabilities present in Samsung’s smartphones and tablets. This update could be released in more markets over the next few days.

If you own a Galaxy A31 and reside in any of the countries mentioned above, you might have received the update already. If you haven’t, you can check for the update manually by navigating to Settings » Software update and tapping on Download and install on your smartphone. You can also download the latest firmware file from our firmware database and flash it manually.

Samsung had launched the Galaxy A31 in April 2020 with Android 10-based One UI 2.5. The mid-range smartphone received the Android 11-based One UI 3.1 update four months ago.

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Galaxy A71 5G gets the August 2021 security update in the US

One week after releasing the August 2021 security update to the Galaxy A71, Samsung has released it to the Galaxy A71 5G. The update is currently rolling out to the carrier-locked variants of the Galaxy A71 5G in the US. Samsung has listed the smartphone under its quarterly software update schedule.

The Galaxy A71 5G has started getting the new software update in the US on Sprint and T-Mobile’s networks. The update bears firmware version A716USQU5DUG1 and includes the August 2021 security patch. As per Samsung’s documentation published a couple of weeks ago, the August 2021 security patch fixes 40 privacy and security related vulnerabilities.

If you are a Galaxy A71 5G user on Sprint or T-Mobile’s network in the US, you might have received a notification of the update already. If you haven’t received the update, you can check for it manually by navigating to Settings » Software update and tapping on Download and install. You can also download the latest firmware file from our firmware database and flash it manually.

Samsung had launched the Galaxy A71 5G last year with Android 10-based One UI 2. The smartphone received the Android 11-based One UI 3.0 update earlier this year.

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Amazon confirms the Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab S7 FE is coming to India soon

Tablet customers in India will soon be able to buy the Wi-Fi-only version of the Galaxy Tab S7 FE. The LTE model was released in India two months ago for an INR 46,999 ($632) starting price. The Wi-Fi model will obviously be cheaper, though we’re not exactly sure how much.

Amazon recently confirmed that the Wi-Fi version of the Galaxy Tab S7 FE is “coming soon” to India. Release date and pricing details have yet to be revealed by the online retailer, but a landing page for the tablet is now live at Amazon India, which means that the slate should be going on sale relatively soon. Amazon’s page not only confirms that the tablet is on its way but allows prospective buyers to register and receive stock notifications. This only further signals the tablet’s imminent release.

If you’re not very familiar with the Galaxy Tab S7 FE, this is Samsung’s first-ever Fan Edition tablet, and it ships with an S Pen in the box as well as various apps for productivity. It’s compatible with the DeX platform, and it delivers great battery life. Tablet customers who put entertainment first can enjoy a massive 12.4-inch display and excellent speakers with Dolby Atmos. The performance leaves something to be desired, as explained in our review, but it might be a decent compromise for people who are looking for a good all-around tablet with an S Pen.

Galaxy Tab S7 FE review

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People can’t stop buying Samsung’s new foldable phones

It’s been over a week since Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3. The company is now focusing on actually selling these devices. Pre-orders are open for customers across the globe with the devices scheduled for release before the end of this month.

Samsung wants to bring foldable smartphones into the mainstream. It continues to significantly improve its foldable devices and has even made it cheaper. These steps seem to be achieving the objective as pre-orders for the new devices are impressive.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 are flying off the shelves

Like other markets, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 are also available for pre-order in Samsung’s home country of South Korea. Local media reports suggest that the pre-order performance of the new foldables is very impressive. Samsung has apparently received 450,000 pre-orders of both devices combined.

Market analysts are now expecting total pre-orders for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 to reach at least 600,000 units combined. It’s important to note that this figure only represents pre-orders for carrier-locked units. If unlocked units are counted as well, the total pre-orders could cross well over 800,000 units.

That’s a massive improvement over previous handsets. You’ll be surprised to hear that only 80,000 units of the Galaxy Z Fold 2 were pre-ordered in South Korea when it was launched last year. At this rate, the new foldable smartphones are actually selling better than Samsung’s conventional flagship series. Pre-orders have reached twice that of the Galaxy S21 and 1.5 times that of the Galaxy Note 20 series.

It’s the younger demographic that’s particularly keen on buying the new foldable smartphones. Stats from a local mobile carrier reveal that 49% of Galaxy Z Fold 3 pre-orders came from customers in their 20s and 30s. The same demographic accounted for 57% of all Galaxy Z Flip 3 pre-orders.

Samsung’s strategy of significantly improving the devices and making them cheaper seems to be working out. Pre-orders are likely holding strong in other markets across the globe as well. Samsung could well achieve its goal of selling millions of foldable smartphones this year.

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Weekly SamMobile Quiz 87 – Come test your Samsung knowledge!

Fancy yourself as a Samsung superfan? Take our quiz and see how many answers you can get right! This is a fun activity that we do with our readers every week to test their knowledge of the Korean giant. The quiz has a mix of easy and difficult questions that most fans should be able to answer without turning to Google.

We make a new quiz for you every weekend so we hope that you’ll participate and learn a thing or two about Samsung in the process! Don’t forget to share the results of the quiz with your friends and see if you can outscore them. A little competition never hurt anybody!

Remember, if the quiz isn’t loading properly, please access the non-AMP version of this webpage.

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