Apple

Samsung planning health-related announcement days before Apple’s WWDC

Jake Smith ∙ May 1, 2014

Samsung has announced a media event "around health" set to take place on May 28 in San Francisco. The invitation came from the company's sensors and components unit, rather than its devices unit, so the announcement could be centered around next-generation tech for Android and Tizen-based devices, rather than a new Gear Fit 2.

The event is notable given Apple is holding its Worldwide Developer Conference on June 2, also in San Francisco. Apple is rumored to have some big health-centered announcements at its Conference keynote, and it looks like Samsung is trying to get a leg up.

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 video tour takes swipes at iPhone 5s and Apple’s Retina display

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 30, 2014

Yesterday, four new feature tour videos cropped up on the Samsung Mobile USA channel on YouTube, showcasing the handset's full HD Super AMOLED screen, the selective camera focus feature, its ultra-power saving mode and the bundled S Health app. Unlike some of the conglomerate's previous promotional videos, these clips do a good job explaining how the four aforementioned features enhance experience for the user.

However, Samsung being Samsung meant the firm couldn't resist comparing its flagship to Apple's iPhone 5s in terms of the display size, image quality and pixel count. I've included that clip, along with the remaining three videos, after the jump...

Google covering some of Samsung’s legal fees, liabilities in Apple trial

Cody Lee ∙ April 23, 2014

We've known pretty much all along that Google was going to be more involved this time around in the Apple-Samsung trial. Many of the features Apple claims infringe on its software patents are baked right into Android, so of course it would be in the Mountain View company's best interest to become much more involved.

But I'm not sure anyone knew the extent of Google's involvement until yesterday, when a lawyer for the tech giant said that it had reached an agreement with Samsung to foot the bill for a large portion of its legal fees. It also told the Korean firm it would cover much of the damages, should it be found guilty of infringement...

Apple’s Earth Day print ad pokes fun at Samsung

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Apple continued its Earth Day PR push this morning, taking out print ads in UK newspapers. The company has thus far painted the leaves on many of its Apple Store logos green, released a video with Tim Cook and announced a new recycling program, and today it took out full page ads to tout its environmental efforts.

The advertisements show a large image of the enormous solar farm that runs Apple's data center in North Carolina, and talk about the company's work to reduce its impact on climate change. But perhaps the most interesting about the ads is that they take a not-so-subtle jab at Samsung and their ongoing patent lawsuit...

Samsung expert says Apple should only get $38M for patent infringement, not $2B

Cody Lee ∙ April 21, 2014

The court battle between Apple and Samsung raged on in California today, with Samsung calling a damages expert to the stand. Judith Chevalier, a professor of economics at the Yale University School of Management, testified that if found guilty of infringement, Samsung should only have to pay Apple $38 million.

The figure, which is actually $38.4 million, is miles away from the $2.2 billion number that Apple's damages expert called for last week. Chevalier argued that a reasonable royalty rate for Apple's patents would've been $0.35 per patent, per device, and doesn't think the company should receive damages for lost sales...

Samsung-GlobalFoundries deal gives Apple’s chip production greater flexibility

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 12, 2018

As Apple continues to move anything it can away from Samsung as a result of heightened competition, fierce rivalry and an ugly patent spat between the two technology giants, Samsung seems to be doing the opposite, hoping to to please Apple's enormous appetite for mobile processors powering iOS devices.

More than a thousand in-house Apple engineers design chips like the A7 processor and the M7 motion coprocessor. The former, the mobile industry's first 64-bit processor, serves as the engine that drives the latest crop of iOS devices like the iPad Air, the iPad mini with Retina display and the iPhone 5s.

To manufacture these things in volume according to its blueprints, Apple relies on some of the biggest of the chip-making services known as foundries because it doesn't have or operate its own semiconductor plant, an investment upward of $10 billion.

Samsung semiconductor arm has thus far churned out all Apple-designed mobile chips. Moreover, the company remains adamant to do so in the future despite its straining relationship with Apple and persistent talk of the iPhone maker throwing itself into the arms of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest independent semiconductor foundry.

Samsung and GlobalFoundries, the Santa Clara, California headquartered chip foundry, yesterday signed a global partnership to standardize mobile chip production around the same 14nm FinFET process technology. The deal gives Apple the flexibility to build its A-series processors at both foundries, which was previously impossible due to the foundries' incompatible production processes...

LG launches AirPlay-like SDK to stream media to multiple TVs, Apple TV support incoming

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

LG is hoping to make it easier for users to beam media to their televisions, with a new SDK it's making available to developers to integrate into apps on iOS and Android.

Smart TVs have historically been one of the most closed platforms out there, with manufacturers developing features for only their own TVs and set-top boxes, and not the broader market - example being Apple's AirPlay. LG is changing this with its new Integrate Connect SDK, a standard to place into mobile apps to beam media across multiple platforms onto the big screen.

For Samsung, Steve Jobs’ death was ‘the best opportunity’ to unleash anti-iPhone ad blitz

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 16, 2014

Apple's second California trial against Samsung over smartphone patents has given us an unprecedented insight into Samsung's obsession with beating Apple and Apple's worries over losing the cool factor to Samsung due to the snarky ads that ridiculed the iPhone as an outdated and dull phone.

As you know, Samsung's campaign headlined under the 'The Next Big Thing' tagline went viral in September of 2012, thanks to a particularily scathing ad that ridiculed folks who'd wait in line for an iPhone 5.

The commercials were meant to counter the iPhone 5 "tsunami," as Samsung execs put it, and have managed to enrage Apple's marketing boss Phil Schiller so much that he proposed in an email to CEO Tim Cook that the firm fire its longtime ad agency.

According to a highly confidential email exchange between Samsung execs, we now know that the South Korean firm saw Steve Jobs's death as the “best opportunity to attack the iPhone” and tarnish the Apple brand...

Apple joins Google, HTC and others to curb smartphone theft

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Apple has entered into the "Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment" with HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and others, to curb the smartphone theft epidemic that has been plaguing many city streets.

Under the voluntary agreement, the manufacturers are planning to add several new security features to their smartphones going on sale after July 2015, to make for an industry standard.

Under the Commitment, manufacturers' smartphones must:

Galaxy S5 fingerprint scanner isn’t immune, can also be tricked like iPhone 5s

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

The fingerprint scanner on Samsung's flagship Galaxy S5 is suffering from the same security flaw as the fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 5s, creating a bit of a risk for owners.

Germany-based security blog H Security found that using a wood glue mold from the fingerprint already set on the Galaxy S5, someone else could gain unauthorized access to your phone. Given Samsung's fingerprint scanner tie-ins with the PayPal app, this means not only contacts and photos are up for grabs, but mobile payments, as well.

Samsung exec: we didn’t copy Apple’s iPhone, we just had better marketing

Jake Smith ∙ April 14, 2014

Apple is claiming in the latest patent trial on-going in a California court that Samsung ripped off its iPhone to become the top-smartphone maker in the world, while Samsung says it was just pure marketing genius that helped turn the smartphone tide over the years.

Todd Pendleton, the chief marketing officer for Samsung’s American division, became the first Samsung executive to take the stand on Monday in the latest patent spat. He explained that marketing Samsung's phones as the "Next Big Thing" helped it beat Apple, HTC, and BlackBerry, who in 2011 all held a lead over the South Korean electronics giant.

“I think people knew Samsung for televisions," Pendleton told the court, when reminiscing on 2011. “But in terms of smartphones, there was no recognition for what our product was or what it stood for.”

Samsung caught lying about tablet sales

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 30, 2017

Samsung, the South Korean chaebol, has an established history of stealing, cheating and lying. It's not just the conviction of stealing patented iPhone technology that dealt it a massive PR blow, Samsung was also publicly shamed over the discovery it had paid people to spam message boards with negative comments about rival products.

And as if that weren't enough, its shady marketing tactics has come to light yet again in an internal document proving Samsung intentionally misled Wall Street investors, analysts and market watchers by flatly lying about sales of its Galaxy tablets, thereby creating a perception that the iPad was losing massive market share to cheaper Android competitors...