Samsung phones will carry Germany’s National electronic ID this year

Samsung announced today that select Galaxy smartphones will be allowed to carry Germany’s National electronic ID on the device when the eID solution becomes available later this year. To make this happen, the company has worked with the German Federal Office for Information Security, Bundesdruckerei and Deutsche Telekom Security.

This is part of a long-term collaboration with an alliance of German government agencies that aim to deliver upon the country’s eGovernment initiative. Samsung has worked with these agencies to develop a hardware-based security architecture that enables citizens to secure their National ID on their smartphone security as an eID.

German citizens will be able to enroll later this year

Once they are enrolled, citizens’ eID will be transferred to a secure location on their phone. The Galaxy S20 lineup will be the first in Germany that will be allowed to carry the mobile ID because of its secure chip.

It goes without saying that the German government would have strict security requirements as the data on these eIDs would be highly sensitive. To ensure this, all four partners have developed an advanced security architecture based on the device’s secure chip. All of the data is thus stored locally on the phone with users having full control over it.

Germany has developed its new mobile eID solution as part of the OPTIMOS 2.0 project with a goal to create an open ecosystem that supports secure mobile authentication. The partners that have worked on it have made sure that the security architecture is open to many identity service providers.

Samsung helped out by making the SDK for its embedded Secure Element available to its partners. This will allow service providers and app developers to develop apples for Trusted Service Manager that can be loaded into the secure chipset-based platform. This will allow apps and services to work with the eID program while German users have peace of mind that their information remains protected.

The entire Galaxy S20 lineup complies with the BSI’s eID security framework for sovereign use. The eID program will allow them to have credentials like driver’s licenses, national health insurance cards and more securely stored on the phone. As the program advances in the future, they may also be able to verify their identity to access and send medical records and even vote using their phone.

German citizens will be able to enroll via the eID app that will be available for the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra later this year. Once they have the app, they need to tap their NFC-enabled National ID card on the back of the phone to get started.

Galaxy S20

• Model: SM-G980F
• Dimensions: Bar: 151.7 x 69.1 x 7.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.2 inch / 157.48 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 990
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy S20+

• Model: SM-G985F
• Dimensions: Bar: 161.9 x 73.7 x 7.8 mm
  
• Display: 6.7 inch / 170.18 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 990
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G

• Model: SM-G988B
• Dimensions: Bar: 166.9 x 76.0 x 8.8 mm
  
• Display: 6.9 inch / 175.26 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 990
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

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Samsung teases upcoming Galaxy devices through stunning visuals

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Flip 5G yesterday, and it has more device coming your way. To tease those devices, the company has started sharing sneak peeks and teasers around the world. The South Korean smartphone giant is dropping hints about the Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 2, and the Galaxy Buds Live via stunning videos and visuals.

The world’s biggest smartphone brand started publishing a series of posts on social media last week, depicting a liquid symbol that changes shape. Samsung is trying to show that its feature-packed devices transform themselves as per your changing needs. Now, the company has started displaying these stunning visuals on facades of iconic landmarks all around the world, giving Galaxy fans a sneak peek at what’s to come.

Starting today, the teaser video is being displayed at the COEX building in Seoul. Leading up to the Galaxy Unpacked 2020 event on August 5, Samsung will put up the video in the coming days at Piccadilly and Waterloo in London, FNAC in Madrid, Times Square in New York, and Central Railway Station in Warsaw.

The Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra were leaked yesterday, while the Galaxy Buds Live and the Galaxy Watch 3 were leaked two weeks ago. Hopefully, Samsung will be able to keep the Galaxy Z Fold 2’s design and pricing a secret until its official announcement, giving fans something to wait for. Check out the stunning teaser video below!

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Massive Galaxy Note 20 leak reveals full specifications, images

Ahead of the official announcement on August 5, Samsung’s flagship smartphone series, the Galaxy Note 20, has been leaked in full. Earlier today, complete specifications of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra were leaked along with its images. Now, images and specs of the Galaxy Note 20 have been published on the internet.

According to a report from WinFuture.de, the Galaxy Note 20 features a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Infinity-O display with Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels), a 20:9 aspect ratio, HDR10+, and a 60Hz refresh rate. Yes, the phone seems to miss out on the super-fluid 120Hz refresh rate that is available on all Galaxy S20 phones and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. It has an in-display fingerprint reader. The phone’s S Pen latency is apparently rated at 26ms.

Galaxy Note 20 to miss out on a microSD card slot, 120Hz refresh rate

The phone will reportedly feature the Exynos 990 processor, at least in Europe, and it will come equipped with 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. It is being reported that the Galaxy Note 20 will miss out on a microSD card slot, so storage expansion won’t be possible. It will run Android 10 with One UI 2.x. We expect the phone to use the Snapdragon 865/865+ processor in the US and China.

The Galaxy Note 20, which measures 161.6 x 75.2 x 8.3mm, will reportedly be offered in three colors: Mystic Black, Mystic Bronze, Mystic Green. The phone should also come with an IP68-certified body for dust and water resistance.

In terms of imaging, the Galaxy Note 20 will reportedly feature a 10MP selfie camera with F2.2 aperture and dual-pixel autofocus. At the rear, the phone will apparently come with a 12MP wide-angle camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 64MP telephoto camera with 3x hybrid zoom, similar to the Galaxy S20. The phone will be able to record 8K 30fps videos and up to 4K 60fps videos.

The Galaxy Note 20 will feature 5G, LTE, dual-SIM card slot (in some markets), eSIM, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC, and USB 3.2 Type-C port. It also seems to feature AKG-tuned stereo speakers, Samsung Pay, Wireless DeX, and special optimizations for Microsoft’s Project xCloud game streaming. The device will come powered by a 4,300mAh battery which supports fast charging, wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging.

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Report: Samsung has no intentions of buying chip designer Arm

Semiconductor design company Arm is up for sale but contrary to reports from various industry watchers, Samsung has no intentions of becoming its owner, according to a report citing Objective Analysis analyst Jim Handy. Arm Ltd. is a SoftBank subsidiary and it’s the largest and most influential chip designer in the world.

It would make sense at first glance for Samsung to be buying the company given its ambitions in the semiconductor segment. However, analyst Jim Handy claims that it’s very unlikely for Arm to become a Samsung subsidiary because the merger and acquisition deal would cost the Korean tech giant more than $40 billion.

In addition, there’s a key difference in philosophy between Samsung’s way of conducting its semiconductor business and Arm’s. The latter designs chips and microarchitectures but it’s a fabless company. It doesn’t manufacture chipsets but it generates its revenues from licencing intellectual properties (IPs) to other chipset manufacturers including Samsung.

In contrast, Samsung is using its IPs for in-house purposes – such as designing its own Mongoose (M) CPU cores – and these designs have not been offered under license to other chipmakers. Therefore, the acquisition of Arm would not only go against the company’s usual business practices in the semiconductor segment, but the deal itself would cost Samsung a literal fortune. With that in mind, analyst Jim Handy believes that the Korean tech giant has no plans to acquire an IP licensing business like Arm.

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Samsung is now manufacturing smartwatches and fitness bands in Brazil

Samsung has started manufacturing smartwatches in Brazil. The company announced today that the production of smartwatches and fitness bands has commenced at its factory located in the city of Manaus, Amazonas.

The investment in local production of smartwatches not only reinforces, but also expands our link with the country, where we already have consolidated production of several types of products, said Antonio Quintas, VP of Mobile Device Division at Samsung Brazil.

Just in time to capitalize on the rise in demand

According to Samsung citing IDC, the demand for smartwatches has increased tremendously in Brazil throughout the first quarter of the year. Samsung Brazil recorded a 218% increase in smartwatch sales in the first quarter of the year compared to Q1 2019, and demand for fitness bands is even higher, topping a 312% increase compared to a year before.

In Samsung’s own words, the main reason for its latest investment in smartwatch manufacturing in Brazil is to meet the needs of consumers in this evolving wearable segment. Hopefully, this will also mean that Brazilians will soon be able to purchase Samsung’s wearables for lower prices.

At the moment, Samsung is manufacturing the Galaxy Watch Active (black, silver, and rose gold), the 40mm Galaxy Watch Active 2 LTE (pink gold), the 44mm Watch Active 2 LTE (black), and the Galaxy Fit e (black and white) at its factory in Manaus. As yet, there’s no official word on whether or not the company will also be manufacturing the Galaxy Watch 3 in Brazil.

Galaxy Watch Active 2 (44mm)

• Model: SM-R835F
• Dimensions: Watch: 44 x 44 x 10.9 mm
  
• Display: 1.4 inch / 35.56 mm Circular Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9110
• Camera:

More specifications

Galaxy Watch Active 2 (40mm)

• Model: SM-R825F
• Dimensions: Watch: 40 x 40 x 10.9 mm
  
• Display: 1.2 inch / 30.48 mm Circular Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9110
• Camera:

More specifications

Galaxy Watch Active (40mm)

• Model: SM-R500
• Dimensions: Watch: 39.5 x 39.5 x 10.5 mm
  
• Display: 1.1 inch / 27.94 mm Circular Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9110
• Camera:

More specifications

Galaxy Fit e

• Model: SM-R375
• Dimensions: Fitband: 40.2 x 16.0 x 10.9 mm
  
• Display: 0.74 inch / 18.79 mm PMOLED
• CPU:
• Camera:

More specifications

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Here’s how the Galaxy Z Flip 5G stack up against the original LTE model

Samsung’s second foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Flip, is about to be re-released in 5G flavor next month. The 5G variant follows the same formula set in place by the LTE model back in February, but even though both phones are very similar, they are differentiated by a few key features both inside and out.

The most important change lies in a new silicon and obviously the inclusion of 5G connectivity. The LTE-enabled Galaxy Z Flip was released in February with a Snapdragon 855+ chipset in tow, but the Galaxy Z Flip 5G adopts the newer and more powerful Snapdragon 865+ Soc.

Qualcomm’s newer silicon has the same number of CPU cores but it uses an Adreno 650 GPU instead of an Adreno 640 graphics chip. The single high-performance CPU core operates at a peak frequency of 3.09GHz, and all things considered, the new Snapdragon 865+ chipset promises a 10% performance boost over the non-plus Snapdragon 865 solution.

The few internal changes are reflected by new color options

Aside from the new chipset and 5G connectivity, the Galaxy Z Flip 5G has the same hardware specifications as the LTE model, including the same foldable 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED Infinity Flex display, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and the same dual-battery with a combined capacity of 3,300mAh supplied by Samsung SDI.

Now, since the Galaxy Z Flip 5G will look virtually the same as the LTE variant, Samsung decided to differentiate the two models through new color options. The original Galaxy Z Flip was released in Mirror Black, Mirror Purple, Mirror Gold, and the Thom Browne Edition, whereas the Galaxy Z Flip 5G will be available in Mystic Gray and Mystic Bronze. Additional color options could be made available later after release.

SamMobile readers who may want to take a closer look at how these two foldable phones compare can check our devices section where we’ve launched a new and flexible comparison tool. Hit the link for a direct comparison between the Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Flip 5G, but remember that our comparison tool can compare up to four devices at the same time, so you can stack these two foldables against many other Galaxy phones in our database.

Galaxy Z Flip

• Model: SM-F700F
• Dimensions: Folded: 87.4 x 73.6 x 17.3 mm
  Unfolded: 167.3 x 73.6 x 7.2 mm
  
• Display: 6.7 inch / 170.18 mm Dynamic AMOLED Display
• CPU: Snapdragon 855+
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy Z Flip 5G

• Model: SM-F707B
• Dimensions: Folded: 87.4 x 73.6 x 17.3 mm
  Unfolded: 167.3 x 73.6 x 7.2 mm
  
• Display: 6.7 inch / 170.18 mm Dynamic AMOLED Display
• CPU: Snapdragon 865+
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

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Samsung might not sell as many 5G phones in 2020 as initially thought

Samsung isn’t going to win the 5G race this year and the company is bound to rank third after Huawei and Apple in terms of global 5G smartphone sales, according to recent reports from market researchers. But although Strategy Analytics estimates that Samsung will sell around 41.5 million 5G smartphones in 2020, market research firm TrendForce has much lower expectations from the Korean tech giant.

According to the new TrendForce report issued via Yonhap, Samsung will sell around 29 million 5G smartphones by the end of 2020. The research firm estimates Huawei to be leading the 5G smartphone market at the end of 2020 with roughly 74 million 5G units sold, and expects Apple to follow closely with 70 million 5G units. Samsung will therefore take the third spot on the podium and it will reportedly be followed by Vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi with estimated sales figures of 21 million, 20 million, and 19 million 5G units, respectively.

Samsung had a strong start in the 5G race in the first quarter of the year. It ranked first in terms of global 5G smartphone shipments but even back then it looked as if the company was losing ground to Huawei due to its lack of influence in China. Now Apple is bound to join the 5G race in the second half of 2020 and it may end up outperforming Samsung despite the fact that the latter company offers a multitude of 5G-enabled smartphones across different price points. The Galaxy Note 20 series and the Galaxy Z Fold 2 are bound to have 5G connectivity, and Samsung will release a 5G variant of the Galaxy Z Flip too.

Keep in mind that each market research firm has its own methodology, which explains why the estimates by TrendForce and Strategy Analytics don’t match. With that in mind, most industry watchers expect Samsung to rank third, but only time will tell exactly how many 5G smartphones the company will be able to sell by the end of the year.

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