Samsung Electronics and its 16 affiliates on Friday apologized for accessing employees’ records of donations to civil organizations without their permission. In a statement, they said the former control tower of Samsung Group -- called the Future Strategy Office -- had unauthorized access to the records of Samsung executives and employees regarding donations to 10 civic groups in May 2013. “The office defined the 10 civic groups as ‘rebellious’ and browsed employees&r

Samsung Display said Thursday its organic light-emitting diode panels for 5G smartphones have been certified as energy-saving and eye-care displays by multiple international organizations. The company is a major supplier for the latest Galaxy S20 series. SGS, a Switzerland-based certification institute, said Samsung’s latest OLED display for smartphones emit 6.5 percent blue light, the lowest percentage among comparable products. As of last year, other firms’ OLED products produ

South Korea’s biggest conglomerates announced Wednesday plans to inject emergency funds to support ongoing efforts to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Samsung Group said all its affiliates will donate a total of 30 billion won ($246 million) to Korea Disaster Relief Association for securing relief goods such as hand sanitizers, disinfectants, daily necessities and health products. Samsung Electronics and its affiliates held emergency board meetings to approve the expe

South Korea’s leading steelmaker Posco said Wednesday it will continue to assist communities in need around the world as part of its corporate citizenship efforts. Most recently it reached out to the people of Wuhan, the Chinese city that was the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak. The company sent 1 billion won ($820,159) worth of supplies for city’s citizens on Jan. 31, including masks and hand sanitizers to help prevent the further spread of COVID-19. Earlier in January

Huawei unveiled its second foldable smartphone, the Mate Xs, in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, in an online broadcast to prevent spreading the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The out-folding Mate Xs has a display the same size as that of its predecessor -- 8 inches diagonally when unfolded -- but features an improved hinge mechanism, called a “falcon-wing hinge,” and a stronger wraparound screen. Huawei’s mobile business head, Richard Yu, said during the launch presentati

LG Chem, South Korea’s leading lithium-ion battery maker, said Tuesday that the company will start supplying cylindrical batteries this year for the Lucid Air, the first electric vehicle to be commercialized by Lucid Motors. The supply deal is expected to enhance the firm’s electric vehicle battery portfolio, along with its proprietary pouch-type batteries. The company is focusing on supplying pouch batteries and has order backlogs worth 150 trillion won ($124 billion). But the

Samsung Electronics announced Tuesday that it had begun mass production of the industry’s first 16-gigabyte DRAM for premium smartphones. The 16 GB low-power DDR5 DRAM, based on Samsung’s second-generation 10-nanometer-class (1y) process technology, offers a data transfer rate of 5,500 megabits per second, which is about 1.3 times faster than the previous mobile memory LPDDR4X. It also offers an energy savings of over 20 percent while providing twice the capacity. The advance wi

Samsung Electronics’ smartphone production facility in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, was shut down over the weekend due to a confirmed case of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, industry sources said Sunday. The Gumi facility, 202 kilometers south of Seoul, consists of two production lines for network equipment and premium smartphones, including the latest Galaxy S20 series and the foldable Galaxy Z Flip. A female employee in her 20s who worked on the smartphone line was dia

South Korean chipmakers have started to be concerned about a looming slowdown in demand for chips and impact on production in the wake of an unexpected spike in the number of COVID-19 infections across the country, according to industry sources on Thursday. “So far, the company is not facing any difficulty in running the production lines as usual, but it is worrisome that signs of demand slowdown from set makers are looming as the situation gets worse and longer,” said an official

South Korean tech giants including Samsung Electronics may face punitive measures by Iran in relation to business decisions that may have been influenced by US sanctions, reports and industry watchers said Tuesday. According to news reports, Iran could refuse entry of Samsung executives and staff and impose a partial ban on registration of Samsung phones with the Iranian mobile network, according to Mohammad Jafar Na’nakar, head of the legal department of the Iranian Ministry of Informati

Most South Koreans are well aware that the country has the world’s two biggest memory chip giants -- Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. As of the third quarter of last year, the combined market share of the two Korean chipmakers for DRAM, worldwide, stood at 74.4 percent, according to data from market researcher TrendForce. For NAND flash, together they accounted for 45.2 percent of the global market. But not everyone has a clear understanding of the product details that enabled these K

Questions are emerging about the UK nanotechnology company Nanoco and its past relationship with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics since the British company filed a patent infringement suit against Samsung on Friday. The UK firm filed suit against Samsung with the Texas Eastern District Court, alleging that the Korean tech giant infringed patents for five technologies related to nanoparticles and quantum dot technology that Nanoco claims to have developed. Founded in 2001, Nanoco was s

PALO ALTO, California -- After the Galaxy S20 and Z Flip phones were unveiled in San Francisco on Tuesday, aspiring tech leaders studying and working in Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley, flocked to a Samsung shop in the area. Samsung Experience Store in Stanford Shopping Center saw its visitor traffic surge about 80 percent on the day of the “Unpacked” event compared with usual Tuesdays, owing to display shelves spruced up with new devices.  Opened in December, it is on

SAN FRANCISCO -- After the big reveal of the impressive Galaxy Z Flip at Unpacked, Samsung Electronics’ smartphone business head Roh Tae-moon on Wednesday flew to New York to attend an exclusive event hosted by Thom Browne, the company’s new partner. Roh was invited by the New York-based fashion company as one of the guests for an event prepared for the Fashion Week.  The Samsung executive’s participation in the fashion industry’s major show was made based on t

SAN FRANCISCO -- For Samsung Electronics, which already offers two foldable smartphone models, it is no longer a challenge to make a phone that folds even more. The South Korean tech titan, rather, is mulling how the folding experience brings value to consumers, said Roh Tae-moon, president and head of Samsung’s mobile division, during a press conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. “Technologically, we are capable of designing phones that fold even more times, but what’s

SAN FRANCISCO -- Around 3,000 industry officials and tech aficionados including some famous Twitterians gathered at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on Tuesday for the unveiling of the Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy S20 lineup, despite persisting fears over the novel coronavirus outbreak. Some attendees at the Galaxy Unpacked 2020 event were spotted with masks on throughout the hourlong show, being aware of the continuously spreading virus across the world, particularly in the Asian region,

SAN FRANCISCO -- There are more things that can be done on a tiny 1.1-inch display on the cover of Samsung Electronics’ palm-sized foldable Galaxy Z Flip than many would have thought, which maximizes both fun and convenient elements of the brand new mobile form factor. The Korea Herald got a chance to check out the new flip-type foldable gadget at the Galaxy Unpacked 2020 held in San Francisco on Tuesday. The tech giant highlighted that its foldable device can now be folded into a sma

SAN FRANCISCO -- Samsung Electronics has reset the tone for the upcoming decade in the mobile world with catchphrases “5G, AI and foldable” by unveiling an enhanced Galaxy S smartphone lineup and a new foldable form factor in San Francisco on Tuesday. At the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2020 event held at the Palace Fine Arts in the city, the South Korean tech titan introduced the global audience comprising 3,000 industry officials and tech aficionados to its vision for the upcoming dec

SAN FRANCISCO -- By unveiling the Galaxy S20 series and Galaxy Z Flip foldable smartphone, Samsung has introduced some fresh technologies and features that could possibly be benchmarked by competitors. The flagship Galaxy S20 series boasts the enhanced camera system among others. The Galaxy S20 introduces an entirely new camera system -- powered by AI and with the biggest image sensor yet -- to bring out the best in every image and every moment.  With larger image sensors available

Samsung Electronics aims to ship a total of 2.5 million units of its second foldable Galaxy Z Flip phones this year, according to news reports Monday. Some industry sources said the South Korean tech giant is preparing to roll out an initial batch of 500,000 units of the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip that is anticipated to be unveiled at its “Unpacked” event on Tuesday in San Francisco. Its first hands-on image was leaked by some tech aficionados ahead of the unveiling. In total, Samsun