Apple

Samsung now paying iPhone users $200 to switch

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Samsung is offering some extra goodies to people interested in participating in its Ultimate Test Drive program which seeks to persuade iPhone users to test-drive the Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy Note5 or Galaxy S6 edge+ for 30 days in exchange for just one dollar.

Now the South Korean company is tempting would-be switchers with $100 of Google Play credit for buying apps, media and other content and an additional cheque for $100 if they traded in their iPhone to their carrier or retailer, as per AndroidCentral.

Official: Samsung stole trade secrets from TSMC

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 26, 2015

Samsung lifted trade secrets from rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC), the world's #1 independent semiconductor foundry, Taiwan's top court has ruled.

According to a report published Wednesday by Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes, the court has determined that Liang Mong-song, a former senior director of research and development at TSMC, revealed TSMC's trade secrets and patents related to its advanced FinFET process technology to Samsung Electronics.

The report makes no mention of Apple, but the connection couldn't be clearer: Samsung might have been able to leverage the stolen secrets to win orders for Apple's next-generation 'A9' processor. Prior reports have posited that both Samsung and TSMC got to build Apple's A9 chips on the advanced 14-nanometer FinFET process technology which uses entirely new three-dimensional transistors.

Samsung to appeal to Supreme Court in Apple patent case

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

As expected, Samsung is taking its patent battle with Apple to the United States Supreme Court. The San Jose Mercury News points to a new court filing from the company, which voices its intent to ask the Supreme Court to hear its case.

In 2012, Samsung was found guilty of infringing on multiple Apple patents and was ordered to pay Apple more than $1 billion in damages. That amount has since been cut in half, but Samsung is hoping to get the sum further reduced.

Court denies Samsung’s latest appeal request in ongoing patent case

Cody Lee ∙ August 13, 2015

The US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied Samsung's request to reconsider the court's decision to uphold damages awarded in its patent infringement case, reports the San Jose Mercury News. The damages amount to more than $400 million.

This is just the latest turn in what seems to be a never-ending patent case between Samsung and Apple. In 2012, a jury found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's patents and awarded the iPhone maker $1 billion in damages, which has since been cut in half.

Samsung unveils Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 as new iPhones loom on the horizon

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 13, 2015

Samsung held its Unpacked 2015 media event this morning, a few weeks earlier than usual as the firm looks to steal Apple's thunder. Predictably, they unveiled two new devices: an even larger-screened Galaxy S6 with a curved screen, officially called Galaxy S6 edge+, and a fifth-generation Note phablet marketed as the Galaxy Note5.

Both devices run Android 5.1.

In addition, the South Korean conglomerate said Samsung Pay, its own mobile payment service, will go head-to-head with Apple Pay this September.

Struggling to return strong profits, Samsung slashes price of Galaxy S6 phones

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 3, 2015

After posting another disappointing quarterly earnings, a fifth straight profit drop, Apple's chief rival Samsung has now slashed the retail price of Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge flagship smartphones by a hundred euro, or about $110, BetaNews learned.

The consumer electronics giant's mobile division suffered a 37.6 percent drop in operating income during the April-June period after badly miscalculating demand for the higher-priced Galaxy S6 Edge, leaving it with unsold inventory of the regular Galaxy S6 devices.

Samsung’s woes continue with yet another disappointing quarterly earnings

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 8, 2017

Surging iPhone demand on the high-end and plummeting sales of its feature phones that are getting squeezed out of the market by Chinese upstarts like Xiaomi are largely blamed for yet another disappointing quarterly earnings that Samsung posted Thursday.

The South Korean conglomerate reported an eight percent annual decline as profits decreased to 5.75 trillion Korean won, or approximately $4.9 billion, from 6.3 trillion won a year earlier. Analysts predicted 5.6 trillion won of net income. The results mark a fifth straight drop in quarterly earnings for the consumer electronics giant.

The bad news gets worse as Samsung's mobile division, its bread and butter, reported a huge 37.6 percent drop in mobile operating income which fell from 4.42 trillion won in 2014 to 2.76 trillion won during the April-June period.

Samsung takes on Apple’s iPad Air 2 with ultra-slim Galaxy Tab S2

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Samsung on Monday announced a next-generation Galaxy tablet to take on Apple's iPad Air 2. The Galaxy Tab S2, driven by Android 5.0 Lollipop, is even thinner than Apple's device: it measures an impressive 5.6mm thin and includes Samsung's exceptionally bright and vivid Super AMOLED display in 7.9 and eight-inch flavors.

Regardless of the screen size, the new Tab S matches the resolution of full-size iPads at 2,048-by-1,536 pixels though last year's Tab S came outfitted with a sharper 2,560-by-1,600 pixel resolution displays.

Volume production of Apple’s next-generation ‘A9’ processor for new iPhones has kicked off

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 16, 2015

Volume production of an Apple-designed next-generation “A9” chip, the engine that will power the next iPhone and iPad, has begun at facilities operated by Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest independent semiconductor foundry.

According to a report published Friday by DigiTimes, a semi-accurate Taiwanese trade publication, the two rivals get to share orders and both have now started volume production of the chips.

Supply chain sources interviewed by The Wall Street Journal estimate Apple's ordered a record 80 million units of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus units by the end of 2015.

Samsung’s latest Galaxy ad paints iPhone owners as ‘a nation of checkers’

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 10, 2015

Samsung's marketing department has admittedly become very skilled at the craft of Apple-bashing, always eager to find an interesting new angle to discredit the iPhone.

Forget about wall-huggers—Samsung's latest television commercial for the Galaxy S6 Edge flagship attempts to diss those who would use an iPhone, likening them to “a nation of checkers.”

You know the type.

Those rude people that destroy your moviegoing experience by checking out their email and ruin your dinner by constantly glancing at their iPhone screen under the table.

WSJ: Samsung moving up Galaxy Note 5 launch to August to beat iPhone hype

Cody Lee ∙ July 10, 2015

Samsung is moving up its Galaxy Note 5 launch to August this year in hopes of beating the new iPhone hype in September, reports The Wall Street Journal. Until now, the South Korean company has leveraged the annual IFA Berlin conference to debut the big-screened handset.

Citing a source familiar with the matter, The Journal says the move is part of a bid to give the Note some breathing room before mid-September, when Apple typically unveils its new iPhones—a product that often dominates both the news cycle and consumer attention for weeks.

Samsung bracing itself for another profit drop after miscalculated Galaxy S6/Edge demand

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 7, 2015

Samsung just can't catch a break.

Although Korean investors thought the flagship Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones would turn Samsung's fortunes around, the financial freefall continued when the South Korean conglomerate said Tuesday it expected to report a decline in revenue and profits when its second-quarter results go public later this month.

As the Wall Street Journal noted today, the unfortunate development marks Samsung's seventh straight quarterly profit decline. A source attributed worse than expected results to seemingly lackluster sales of Samsung's latest flagship handsets and a gross miscalculation in demand for the Galaxy S6 versus the Galaxy S6 Edge.