SK Telecom and its Swedish partner Ericsson said Sunday they have successfully conducted a joint test of the 5G standalone network, opening the way for faster network services and better data management efficiency.Standalone (SA) is a method that is two times faster than the previous 5G non-standalone (NSA) method, which uses 5G connection side by side with the lower-grade Long Term Evolution network.  SK Telecom announced it has become the first Korean telecom company to achieve pure SA 5G

BERLIN -- Large home appliances took the center stage at IFA 2019, but on the sidelines there were also sections that spotlighted health care, gaming and home gardening. Among those, Finnish company Plantui’s booth caught eyes with electronic plant pots emitting colorful lights.  Called the Smart Gardens, the Plantui devices are equipped with intelligent light-emitting diodes and automatic water pumping system, which allows anyone to grow fresh greens all year round, indoors.“We

BERLIN -- Song Dae-hyun, president of LG Electronics’ home appliance and air solution division, expressed confidence that the company has an edge in the area of internet of things over its European counterparts. “Europe is comprised of countries that are traditionally strong in the field of home appliances,” he said during a press briefing Saturday.“But what sets LG apart from these European brands is that we do everything from household electronic devices to smartphones,

BERLIN -- Huawei CEO Richard Yu announced the world’s first commercialized 5G system-on-chip during his keynote speech at IFA 2019, darting ahead of competitors Samsung and Qualcomm in the race.The flagship Kirin 990 and its 5G version will power Huawei’s Mate 30 when the new phone is unveiled in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 19.“We don’t know when Samsung’s chip will be available -- our chipset is available now,” said Yu on the opening day of IFA 2019, calling th

BERLIN -- Collaborative innovation loomed at the forefront of the 59th IFA 2019 in Berlin, Germany.Jens Heithecker, the IFA executive director, emphasized on the power of the approach in shaping the future, as he opened up the stage for IFA keynote speakers on Friday and Saturday. And it’s one that requires openness, which is the backbone of the annual trade fair that is a staunch supporter of freedom.“A bit over 20 years ago, listening to western media would have cost your career fo

BERLIN -- LG Electronics is adamant that Samsung’s 2019 8K TV does not meet the international standards for 8K resolution and that the company is effectively deceiving consumers.LG has made similar assertions before, but this is the first time it has officially called out Samsung. “We believe Samsung’s 8K TV is not really 8K,” said Park Hyoung-sei, executive vice president at LG Electronics TV Business Operation Center. “Consumers need to know the truth and know wha

BERLIN -- Samsung Electronics CEO Kim Hyun-suk highlighted the rapid sales growth of the firm’s latest built-in refrigerator brand, called “Bespoke,” saying the company’s focus is not on product specifications but on developing products that people desire in their hearts.“We believe Bespoke can change the dynamics of European built-in market,” Kim said on the eve of IFA 2019, stressing that Europe accounts for 40 percent of the world’s built-in market.&l

BERLIN -- Art and technology are in a symbiotic relationship as both are expressions of human creativity, according to the Italian architect who designed the LG SIGNATURE booth for IFA 2019.“For me, art and technology are the same thing,” said Massimiliano Fuksas in an interview.“There are no difference because they are both part of the human being -- the creativity of human being,” he said.The architect designed the LG SIGNATURE booth with a hexagon motif, symbolizing in

BERLIN – Korean tech giant LG Electronics unveiled an upgraded dual-screen phone at IFA 2019 on Friday. The 6.4-inch smartphone comes in the V series and G series. The 5G phone LG V50S ThinQ will be rolled out in Korea, while the 4G LG G8X ThinQ will be sold overseas. “The V50S will be the joker of the second half of 2019,” said David Yoon, vice president of Product Planning Strategy Group at LG Mobile Communications, referring to the device as a potential trump card in the com

BERLIN -- IFA 2019 kicked off Friday at Berlin ExpoCenter City’s 180,000-square-meter venue three times the size of Seoul’s Coex exhibition hall. Some 1,800 consumer electronics companies gathered from across the globe to showcase their latest and most prized products. Over 100 Korean companies are exhibiting at IFA 2019, including Korean tech titans Samsung and LG Electronics.Both Samsung and LG are showcasing flexible screen technologies; Samsung through the de facto virgin introdu

BERLIN -- Samsung Electronics’ foldable smartphone stole the show at the company’s IFA 2019 booth displaying a number of cutting-edge solutions.IFA is the biggest European consumer electronics show held annually in Berlin. In a massive booth area of 10,072 square meters at City Cube Berlin, Samsung is exhibiting an internet of things “Connected Living” zone, an 8K quantum-dot light-emitting diode TV “QLED 8K” zone, a customized built-in “Bespoke” k

BERLIN -- LG Electronics on Thursday shared the company’s vision for an AI-powered future where “anywhere is home.” Park Il-pyung, the company’s president and chief technology officer, spoke at a panel discussion ahead of IFA 2019, outlining LG’s AI vision and saying it went beyond living space, extending also to future mobility and smart cities.“Evolve,” “connect” and “open” are the three pillars of the vision, Park said, explain

Only a day remains to the beginning of this year’s IFA, Europe’s biggest annual trade show for consumer electronics in Berlin, Germany, where innovative, pioneering technologies from across the world gather for a showdown. IFA organizers Messe Berlin and gfu Consumer & Home Electronics said artificial intelligence will set the tone for trends at this year’s event. Many types of devices using AI are self-teaching and able to improve their performance for the user’

Celltrion said Tuesday it has picked Switzerland-based Lonza to manufacture its autoimmune biosimilar Remsima’s drug substance at a Singapore facility. Lonza is a global contract development and manufacture organization headquartered in Basel.“Demand for biosimilars are soaring worldwide, and for a smooth and timely supply of products we have forged collaborative ties with Lonza,” said Celltrion CEO Woo Sung-kee. Celltrion’s two plants in Songdo, South Korea, have a capac

Hanwha Precision Machinery, a subsidiary of Hanwha Aerospace, announced Tuesday it had launched an integrated tech center for Europe in Germany to accelerate its global expansion.The launch ceremony for the Hanwha Europe Technical Center took place Friday in Morfelden-Walldorf, nearby finance and commerce hub Frankfurt.Responsible for manufacturing Hanwha’s machinery, Hanwha Precision Machinery will use the new tech center as the base for big-scale projects in Europe and to attract new cli

Samsung Electronics will bet on its home purification solutions at Europe’s biggest consumer electronics fair, which kicks off this Friday. The company said Monday that it will showcase its clothing purification wardrobe “Air Dresser,” cordless vacuum cleaner “Jet” and windless air purifier “Cube” at the upcoming Internationale Funkausstellung, better known as IFA 2019, slated for Sept. 6 to 11 in Berlin.  Samsung referenced a survey of European con

SK Holdings will launch SK Pharmteco in January in California, consolidating its contract manufacturing organizations in Korea, the US and Europe with a long-term aim of a market debut in the US, the company said Monday.“With the future US IPO (initial public offering) of SK Pharmteco and with additional mergers and acquisitions, we will grow to become a global top 10 CMO,” said an SK Holdings representative. A contract manufacturing organization refers to a company that provides con

With gaming indulgence now identified as a diagnosable disorder by the World Health Organization, one question hangs in the sky blazing in neon lights: Are professional gamers game addicts? The short answer is no. The longer answer lies below. Gaming disorder, as defined by WHO, applies to those who have difficulty controlling their behavior, whose fixation on gaming undermines other critical aspects of life such as human connections and work. “Addiction is akin to social isolation. P

SK Plasma signed a memorandum with Indonesia’s state-run PT Bio Farma and the Red Cross Society on transferring technology for separating out blood components as part of its effort to expand its health care business, the company said Sunday.SK Plasma is a subsidiary of SK Chemical that focuses on plasma-derivatives, such as albumin, immunoglobulin, coagulation factor, antithrombin III and others. These derivatives are essential medicines for congenital immunodeficiency diseases, hemophilia

US ophthalmologic gene diagnosis company Avellino Labs is preparing for its initial public offering on the Kosdaq, South Korea’s secondary bourse. It expects to be listed in the fourth quarter of this year at the earliest. Avellino Labs chief sales and marketing officer, Eric Bernabei, met with The Korea Herald for an interview in Gangnam, Seoul, on Thursday, during his four-day visit to the country for meetings with underwriters and officials at the Korea Exchange. Bernabei was joined by