Samsung

Apple and Samsung -- the odd couple of the tech world

Apple and Samsung are arch-rivals in the mobile market and in the courtroom but they still need each other to do business.

A story from Monday's Wall Street Journal highlights the co-dependency between the two competitors, pointing out that neither company can truly afford to upset that tenuous fruit cart.

Apple reportedly reached an agreement last month to shift more of its chip production away from Samsung in favor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The deal was described by DigiTimes as one "whereby TSMC replaces or supplements Samsung, the incumbent supplier of Apple processors." In recent, … Read more

SK Telecom launches world's first LTE-Advanced network

South Korea is about to get a taste of what true 4G mobile broadband speed is.

SK Telecom announced Wednesday that it has launched the world's first LTE-Advanced network, a faster LTE standard that was originally deemed by the International Telecommunication Union as a true 4G standard. LTE-Advanced is capable of data transfer rates of 150Mbps, roughly twice as fast as the 4G LTE speeds available in the United States and elsewhere, and 10 times faster than 3G, SK Telecom said.

"By supporting twice faster speeds than LTE, LTE-A will not only enhance customers' satisfaction in network quality, … Read more

Best Buy offers $50 gift card with Samsung device purchase

Best Buy plans to offer something a little extra to Samsung mobile device buyers.

Anyone who buys any Samsung Galaxy device from June 26 to July 6 will receive a $50 gift card. The offer includes all Samsung Galaxy mobile phones and connected tablets including the Galaxy S3, the Galaxy S4, the Galaxy Note 2 , and the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.

A two-year activation is required for post-paid mobile phones and tablets. For mobile activations with a wireless contract, the gift card can be applied immediately to the purchase. For prepaid mobile and tablet activations, the gift card must … Read more

Samsung Galaxy S4 Developer Edition debuts for Verizon users

Verizon Wireless subscribers interested in the Galaxy S4 Developer Edition can now order one directly through Samsung.

Selling for $650, the unlocked developer edition offers all the features of the standard S4. But as per its name, it's geared toward developers and other people who want to tweak the phone without running into the obstacles posed by the locked version.

An unlocked boot-loader gives you the ability to reprogram the phone with custom ROMs that carry only the OS and basic apps. You can then install a variety of apps of your own choosing and make other changes.

The … Read more

Samsung scores another win versus Apple, this time in Japan

Score one for Samsung in the company's long-running patent battles with Apple.

A Japanese high court upheld a lower court ruling that Samsung did not infringe on an Apple patent related to synchronizing music and video on Galaxy smartphones and tablets with servers, according to a report from Bloomberg.

The Intellectual Property High Court in Tokyo backed an August decision by Tokyo District Court that Samsung's mobile devices don't infringe on Apple technology. Following that ruling, Apple filed paperwork in October to appeal the decision.

Samsung gave us the following statement:

We welcome the court's decision, … Read more

Samsung eyes settlement in EU antitrust inquiry -- report

Samsung is inclined to wave the white flag in its issues with European Union antitrust regulators rather than take the chance of fighting it out, according to a new report.

Samsung and the European Union's European Commission, which regulates corporate competition, are in preliminary talks to settle an investigation into the company's use of essential mobile patents, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing people who claim to have knowledge of those talks.

The European Commission has been investigating Samsung over its use of standard-essential patents in its lawsuits against Apple across the EU. Samsung holds essential patents on the 3G … Read more

Samsung denies report it will exit desktop PC business

Samsung desktop PCs may soon be a thing of the past.

The Korean electronics giant plans to close its desktop business in order to focus on tablets and all-in-one laptops, according to a report from the Korea Times that cited unnamed officials at the company.

"Tablets, all-in-one and hybrid PCs are Samsung's current focus. Samsung is speeding up its restructuring of its PC business via product realignment toward profitable variants," one Samsung official told the Korea Times.

However, Samsung denied the report as "groundless" in a statement to The Next Web.

The rumor that Samsung … Read more

Has Samsung gone too niche with its new GS4 smartphones?

Samsung has expanded its Galaxy S4 family of products to appeal to niche markets, but consumers will likely find trade-offs in certain specifications and functionality in these devices.

The company has been touting the expanded family of Galaxy S smartphones for a couple of months now. But earlier this week, at its event in London, Samsung specifically talked up the three new additions to its Galaxy S4 family of devices. The new devices are meant to address niche markets. But in tailoring the devices for specific audiences, Samsung has diluted some of the core specifications that make the Samsung Galaxy … Read more

Apple wins patent case against Samsung in Japan

A Tokyo court has ruled that Samsung infringed on Apple's patent covering a "bounce-back" feature used on the latter's smartphones and tablets.

Reuters reported Friday that Apple had alleged Samsung copied its "bounce-back" function, in which icons on smartphones and tablets quiver back when users scroll to the end of an electronic document. Samsung has already changed its interface on recent models to show a blue line at the end of documents, the report noted.

The court's decision comes after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in April said Apple's patent … Read more

The lowdown on Samsung's new products (roundup)

Tablets, cameras, and smartphones, oh my. At a London press conference today, Samsung let loose a number of new products that ranged from a handful of Galaxy smartphones, to several Windows 8 Ativ tablets. In addition, it announced the Galaxy NX, a compact camera that can connect photographers on the go to an LTE data connection. To make sense of all these devices, CNET compiled a list of the new goodies. But what do you guys think? Are you looking forward to any of these devices or are they a pass?

Samsung Galaxy NX Running a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, … Read more