After California-based Apple spearheaded fingerprint sensors last year, Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, is poised to feature the sensors in its upcoming smartphone, the Galaxy S5.“Among the different types of biometric sensors that Samsung is testing for its Galaxy S5, the tech giant will go for fingerprint authentication rather than unintuitive user experience of iris recognition,” said an industry source who declined to be named. “Who would want to put their handset

Camera module maker Haesung Optics, which supplies lens and camera modules to Samsung Electronics, will make inroads into the 3-D camera and retina recognition businesses in an effort to secure a new income source beyond its core smartphone parts. “After having meetings with officials from global firms such as General Motors, General Electric and Nokia at the CES, it became clear which directions Haesung should take down the road,” Yi Jason, managing director of Haesung Optics, told The Korea He

Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, said it will delay opening a new factory in Arizona amid a slump in demand for personal-computer microprocessors, its main source of revenue. The completed Chandler plant, called Fab 42, hasn’t been filled with chipmaking gear, Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for Intel, said in a telephone interview. The Santa Clara, California-based company decided to first upgrade the three other factories on the site because they can use existing equipment, he said. Intel, whic

Nest Labs isn’t just helping homeowners maintain a cozy environment. Google Inc.’s $3.2 billion acquisition of the digital-thermostat maker is also making venture-capital firms very comfortable. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the earliest backers of the company co-founded by former Apple executive Tony Fadell, invested $20 million in Nest beginning in 2010 and will see a return of about $400 million, a person with knowledge of the deal said. Shasta Ventures, another early Nest backer,

LAS VEGAS ― Gary Shapiro, the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, organizer of the International CES, said the support of the Korean government made it possible to plan an event attended by the world’s most innovative companies. “The South Korean government has clearly invested as a national policy in broadband Internet, and has a legal structure which encourages the formation of companies which are innovative,” said the president at a press meeting held last week during t

LAS VEGAS ― LG Electronics, the world’s second-largest maker of TVs, appeared to be determined to prove critics wrong by solidifying its position in the global market on all appliance fronts by focusing on premium lineups. “We will try to maintain our leadership over other competitors in the U.S. household appliances market by rolling out leading products and putting more focus on technology innovation,” said Jo Seong-jin, president of LG Electronics’ home appliance company during a press meetin

Despite the high expectations for advancements in car technology, namely in the form of autonomous or even unmanned vehicles, global carmakers said it would take at least another 10 years before people could experience such cars in their everyday lives. “Fully autonomous driving cannot be utilized right away due to safety reasons. It will likely remain as a driving assistance system for a while,” said Lee Bong-hwan, executive vice president of Hyundai Mobis, who paid a visit to exhibition booths

Chairmen of Korea’s top conglomerates started off the year on Thursday by urging executives and employees to brace for crisis. Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee emphasized that the business behemoth should keep trying to shed old things in running business in order to embrace a new global management system. “To be a leader in an environment that lacks certainty and visibility, we must go beyond the boundaries of current markets and technologies,” Lee said at an opening event for the New Year he

Expectations are high ahead of the 2014 International CES, which will be held in Las Vegas from Tuesday through Friday, giving tech insiders and enthusiasts a chance to catch a glimpse of the consumer electronics products that will shape trends in the coming year.The Internet of Things (IoT), the world’s largest ultra-HD TVs and wearable devices will receive much attention at this year’s show.Smart homes that talk your languageAt the center of IoT, which enables users to connect to gadgets and o

Moguls of Korea’s major electronics businesses plan to participate in the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas, one of the largest consumer electronics trade shows in the world, early next month. Participants are expected to learn of the latest trends in global electronics and to seek opportunities to beef up networks with global electronics vendors and retailers at the Jan. 7-10 event.Samsung Electronics’ consumer electronics chief Yoon Boo-keun and mobile unit chief Shin Jong-kyun are to lead t

Samsung Group announced last week that it would invest 600 billion won ($570 million) in Samsung BioLogics, a biopharmaceutical affiliate of the conglomerate, over the next two years. The move is part of Samsung’s efforts to find a new growth engine alongside its mobile and electronics businesses, market watchers said.According to the regulatory filing, the biopharmaceutical firm will issue new shares sequentially from February next year through August 2015. Samsung Electronics and Samsung Everl

LG Electronics is testing a prototype for its next flagship smartphone G3, equipped with fingerprint recognition technology, according to industry sources. “LG has recently made a decision to adopt the fingerprint scanner on the upcoming G3, the successor of the G2, and is conducting a series of tests for the product,” said an official close to the matter.The fingerprint recognition technology would likely come as a swipe fingerprint sensor, different from the area-type system utilized on Apple’

A leading Korean chemistry researcher has predicted that the era of truly flexible organic light-emitting diode displays will come as early as next year as major electronics firms plan to churn out a slew of smart devices that can be folded and rolled up.“Consumers will likely see various types of flexible or bendable displays applied to smartphones and wearable gadgets,” Kim Yun-hi, a chemistry professor at Gyeongsang National University in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, told The Korea Heral

SK Hynix, the world’s fourth-largest chipmaker, said Wednesday that it may build new assembly lines for DRAM chips in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.“The firm is currently considering adding the new assembly lines to the ‘M10’ factory, which have been dilapidated,” a company official said in a statement.The announcement came after news reports that the country’s second-largest chipmaker plans to invest 15 trillion won ($14 billion) over the next eight years to build new factories in the region.The of

Samsung Electronics launched a series of conferences for next year’s global strategies on Tuesday, where its hundreds of executives at home and abroad are expected to discuss ways to maintain the firm’s leadership in the global market. The electronics firm’s three major business units ― device solutions, consumer electronics, and IT and mobile ― will hold the meetings in Giheung and Suwon in Gyeonggi Province until Friday. Vice chairman Kwon Oh-hyun, DS unit chief Kim Ki-nam, CE division chief Y

The results are based on the surveys conducted at mobile shops in 15 countries from June 20-30, and from Oct. 1-10.

Hundreds of executives from Samsung Electronics are scheduled to gather in Suwon and Gihueng, Gyeonggi Province, this week to participate in a series of conferences for next year’s business strategies. Top executives, including chairman Lee Kun-hee’s son Jay-yong, will have a lot on their plates as they are pressed to come up with strategic measures to weather challenges such as the saturated smartphone market and sluggish world economy, according to market watchers.“The executives at home and a

President Park Geun-hye vowed Thursday that her government would establish centers across the nation to foster creative ideas of the public and further promote the creative economy initiative. “The government will set up the actual creative economy towns along with one online, where people can share and cooperate to work on creative ideas,” President Park said at the opening ceremony of Creative Korea 2013, jointly hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and Korea’s major busi

Samsung Electronics decided to retain its current three business units and strengthen its camera business, officials said Wednesday.They said the three main business units ― device solutions, home appliance, and IT and mobile ― remain intact, and will be continued to be led by CEOs Kwon Oh-hyun, Yoon Boo-keun and Shin Jong-kyun, respectively.Because of last year’s major restructuring process in which Samsung Electronics split a division in charge of finished goods into mobile and consumer electr