Samsung

Xiaomi’s new phone has beastly specs for half the price of iPhone 6s or Galaxy S7

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Chinese handset maker Xiaomi at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, today announced its latest Mi 5 smartphone, billed as a super flagship device due to some beastly specs.

The new Xiaomi Mi 5 basically packs in as much hardware as Apple's iPhone 6s and Samsung's newly announced Galaxy S7, for half the price, with industrial design that looks like a cross between the iPhone 6s and Galaxy S7.

The maxed-out spec sheet includes things like the latest Qualcomm chip with four gigabytes of RAM, a sixteen-megapixel camera from Sony with sapphire lens protection, a full HD IPS LCD edge-to-edge screen, a fingerprint sensor integrated into the Home button, 128GB of on-board storage with support for micro SD cards and more.

Samsung unveils Galaxy S7/Edge with Always-On Display, bigger batteries, better cameras & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 19, 2018

Sticking to its tradition, Samsung today officially announced its next-generation Galaxy smartphones, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. An evolution of last year's Galaxy S6, the new phones retain Samsung's quad HD Super AMOLED display while fixing some of the annoyances of the Galaxy S6.

Notably, this includes IP68 water and dust-proofing and support for microSD cards via a hybrid SIM card tray to boost storage capacity up to 200GB (in some select countries, the tray can be used with a dual SIM card).

The battery is still non user-replaceable, but the cameras have been improved. Yes, the camera hump is still present on the back, albeit much less pronounced than on the S6. The overall look and feel of the new handsets hasn't changed much from the Galaxy S6's seductive metal-and-glass industrial design.

TSMC to be sole supplier of processors for iPhone 7, report says

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 1, 2018

A new report late Wednesday claims that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company will be the exclusive supplier of mobile processors for Apple's next generation iPhone. The news comes from South Korea's Electronic Times, via Reuters, who cites unnamed sources within the industry.

ET says that TSMC beat out rival, and long-time Apple chip-maker, Samsung for the job thanks to its ability to scale its 10-nanometer process. Their report lines up with previous analyst predictions, who felt TSMC would take 100% of Apple's next-gen chip orders thanks to its InFO chip tech.

Samsung to debut Galaxy S7 on February 21

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 8, 2017

South Korea-based Samsung revealed in a short teaser video published this morning on YouTube that it will be officially unveiling its latest and greatest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7, at 7pm on Sunday, February 21, at a media event in Barcelona, Spain, one day before the Mobile World Congress conference.

The company also sent out official invites for its 'Galaxy Unpacked 2016' press conference and hinted it will be showing off a new Gear 360 virtual-reality camera.

Samsung said to be porting several of its device companion apps to iOS

Cody Lee ∙ January 25, 2016

Samsung is preparing to port several of its applications to iOS, reports SamMobile. The site says it has received information from trusted insiders that the South Korean company plans to bring "most of its apps (if not all)" to Apple’s mobile platform.

Of course, Samsung already has a handful of apps in the App Store, and the tech giant confirmed at CES that it will be adding iPhone support for the Gear S2 later this year. But today's report says S Health, Gear Fit Manager and others are on the way.

Apple wins US sales ban on outdated Samsung phones that are no longer sold

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 19, 2016

Following its multi-year patent spat with Samsung, Apple has finally won a United States sales ban on some older Samsung smartphones, FOSS Patents reported Tuesday.

The sales ban covers certain features of some Samsung phones, but the injunction is practically useless as it affects outdated devices, not the flagship Galaxy lineup, which are no longer available in the United States.

Samsung jumping into Live Photos bandwagon: ‘Vivid Photos’ reportedly coming to Galaxy S7

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2016

Live Photos, a feature of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus which optionally captures 1.5 seconds of video before and after a picture is taken, is reportedly going to be replicated by Samsung's next-generation Galaxy S7 smartphones when it debuts later this year, according to sources who spoke with Marius Maria over at Android Geeks.

As there's no guarantee that Samsung's engineers will finish it in time for the handset's debut, it might arrive later this year with a software update.

Rumor: Samsung pouring $7+ billion into flexible OLED production for iPhones

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 14, 2016

Korean outlet ET News said Thursday that a contract between Samsung and Apple on supplying flexible OLED screens for future iPhones has practically been agreed upon, with the South Korean conglomerate committing to a whopping $7.4 billion in capital expenditure over the next couple of years to buy OLED manufacturing equipment needed to produce about 30,000 to 45,000 OLED sheets per month.

Although Apple is said to have secured agreements with other panel makers for OLED technology, the size of the investment suggests that Samsung is about to become Apple’s biggest flexible OLED provider.

Samsung says its Gear S2 smartwatch will support iPhone later this year

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

During its CES keynote on Tuesday, Samsung announced that iOS compatibility is coming soon to its Gear S2 smartwatch. On stage at the Las Vegas event, the company's VP Alanna Cotton said that the popular Tizen-powered accessory is getting iPhone support later this year.

Cotton didn't offer up specific dates or details, but expect S2 functionality to be far more limited on iOS than it is on Android. Apple does not give developers the kind of low-level access its own Watch enjoys—something that has long-hampered Pebble and Android Wear devices.

Samsung’s latest external SSD comes with USB-C

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 4, 2016

If you're a proud owner of Apple's one-port MacBook, up until recently you could only connect a handful of USB-C accessories without using a USB-C-to-USB adapter. But if CES is an indication, 2016 is going to be the year of USB Type-C.

Earlier today, my colleague Jeff told you about several MacBook-friendly USB Type-C monitors and I wrote about Griffin’s USB-C power cable which brings MagSafe charging to the MacBook. Samsung, too, has jumped on the USB-C bandwagon with the Portable SSD T3, basically a next-generation, USB-C-enabled version of its external solid state drive series.

The switch to USB-C connection has made possible data transfer speeds of up to 450 megabytes per second, enough to handle 4K video editing. And with compatibility across multiple operating systems and devices, the T3 works not only with your MacBook but other USB-C-enabled notebooks and desktops.

Apple said to be close to signing OLED deal with Samsung and LG Display for future iPhones

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 30, 2015

A report Wednesday by ET News contends that Apple is “close” to signing a definitive supply agreement with both Samsung Display and LG Display concerning OLED screens for future iPhones.

Although iOS devices have used ubiquitous liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels since their inception, organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology features deeper blacks and requires less power because it doesn't need a power-hungry backlight module to illuminate the pixels.

Apple wants additional $180 million in supplemental damages from Samsung

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 28, 2015

Apple wants a Christmas present from Samsung in the form of an additional $180 million in supplemental damages (damages for infringements after the cutoff date of the jury trial), FOSS Patents reported this past weekend.

The iPhone maker on Christmas Eve filed a motion seeking the additional $180 million on top of the initial $548 million settlement that Samsung has agreed to pay to Apple (though a reimbursement may be demanded later).