Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are facing problems with supplies

A recent report has pointed out that Samsung is facing an acute shortage of supplies for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The report pointed out that the company failed to predict the popularity of the smartphone and did not get enough stock ready in time. The high demand of the smartphone can be put into perspective after the pre-orders for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ reached about 1.04 million. The company issued a statement stating that it was facing ‘an imbalance of inventories by colour or model at retail stores’ while extending the deadline.

The company continued in the statement adding that it has extended the registration period of both the models till 30 April 2017 from the initial plan of 24 April 2017. The interesting, yet worrying, part here is that this is not the first time that the company has extended the deadline.

According to the report in Yonhap News Agency, a South Korean publication, smartphone retailers across the country are facing tight supply of the Midnight Black models.

Samsung launched the Galaxy S8 and S8+ on 19 April in India. The smartphones were announced alongside a long lineup of accessories and will go on sale at Rs 57,900 and Rs 64,900 for the S8 and S8+ models respectively.

Both the Galaxy S8 and S8+ come with Android 7.0 out of the box with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI atop it. The devices are powered by Samsung’s very own Exynos 8895 – Octa-core (2.35 GHz Quad + 1.9 GHz Quad), 64-bit, 10 nm process. The chipsets make the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, the first phones to come to India with a 10nm framework that is supposed to deliver better battery life along with a 10 percent bump in CPU performance.

The phones will come with 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64 GB of UFS 2.1 storage which is expandable to up to 256 GB using a microSD card.

In terms of camera, both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ come with a 12 MP dual pixel rear camera with an f/1.7 aperture and a front 8 MP camera with an f/1.7 aperture. The rear camera supports optical image stabilisation.

Publish date: April 25, 2017 11:00 am| Modified date: April 25, 2017 11:00 am

New Zealand seeks international team-ups in online government services

Representational Image : Reuters

  07 Nov 2016 , 15:21

New Zealand is looking to boost international cooperation in providing government services online, Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne said on Monday. Dunne will represent New Zealand at the third meeting of the D5 Digital Leaders Summit in South Korea, from November 10 to 12, Xinhua news agency reported. The D5 is a group of five nations — New Zealand, Britain, South Korea, Estonia and Israel — considered among the most advanced in the provision of online government services.

“New Zealand is well placed in playing its part in this grouping — it is already government policy here to be achieving 70 per cent of New Zealands’ most common interactions with government online by 2017, and we are keen both to share our experiences and learn from others,” Dunne said in a statement.

“While all this will be routine for those directly involved in the ICT (information and communications technology) world, the challenge of digital transformation is to ensure it resonates with the average citizen. It cannot just be about system upgrades; it has to demonstrate a positive, specific and noticeable benefit to the individual to be sustainable,” he said.

New Zealand authorities had renewed almost 706,000 adult passports online since November 2012, Dunne said, citing an example of how ordinary citizens could interact with government over the Internet.

At the conclusion of the summit, Dunne will sign on behalf of New Zealand the Busan Declaration, reaffirming the efforts of the D5 member countries to strengthen cooperation in the field of digital government among members and with the international community.

IANS

Galaxy Note 7 troubles worsen as 527 South Koreans to sue Samsung

Image Credit: REUTERS

  24 Oct 2016 , 14:14

Hundreds of South Korean Galaxy Note 7 smartphone owners were preparing Monday to file a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics over the fire-prone device. Attorney Peter Young-Yeel Ko, head of the Harvest Law Firm said Monday that 527 consumers want Samsung to compensate them for the costs to visit shops to exchange their phones, for the hours they had to wait while transferring data and for psychological harm from using a hazardous product.

His clients include a consumer who claims to have lost thousands of pictures from a family vacation and another who drove eight hours round-trip to return the phone. Samsung recalled the Galaxy Note 7 phone because it tends to overheat. It recalled replacement Note 7s after finding they also were prone to catch fire, the company stopped making or selling them.

The company did not immediately respond to called and emailed requests for comment. Ko, a longtime Samsung phone user, said he had to visit a mobile shop three times after buying the Note 7 in August, first to get the battery checked when reports of the devices catching fire first surfaced. He went back to get a replacement phone after Samsung’s first recall and again after the company’s second Note 7 recall.

Apparently in response to criticism over its handling of the recalls, Samsung announced Monday that Note 7 owners who switch to Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge smartphones can get 50 percent discounts on upgrades to Galaxy S8 or Note 8 smartphones next year if they return the S7 or S7 Edges.

Samsung earlier offered 30,000 won ($26) worth of coupons for the Samsung mobile shopping mall to all Note 7 users. Those switching to other Samsung phones were offered 70,000 won ($62) worth of coupons.

Kim Chae Yong, who joined the lawsuit, said he spent nearly $100 on gas and highway fees to return a Note 7 phone after the first recall. Kim drove about 300 kilometres (185 miles) from his home in Cheonan to Busan, where he had bought the Note 7. “I feel betrayed,” the 26-year-old plant engineer said. “I am angry and I don’t ever want to use it again.”

Associated Press

Apple iPhone 7 hits South Korean stores in Note 7’s absence

  21 Oct 2016 , 14:24

The Apple iPhone 7 went on sale in South Korea, seeking to fill a void left by arch-rival Samsung on its home turf following a damaging recall fiasco over the Note 7 smartphone.

The South Korean electronics giant discontinued the Note 7 — one of its key iPhone challengers — on October 11 following reports that replacements for combustible models were also catching fire.

The decision is set to cost Samsung billions in lost profits, and there are already signs that Apple is reaping some of the benefits.

An official at mobile carrier Korea Telecom (KT) said the first batch of 50,000 iPhone 7s they put up for pre-order a week ago sold out in 15 minutes. “I would attribute part of that to the Note 7 effect,” said the official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

Customer defection is one of Samsung’s biggest concerns, especially as the Note 7 was specifically aimed at taking on the iPhone in the premium handset market. In the hope of retaining customer loyalty, Samsung had offered Note 7 users a 70,000 won ($60) phone bill credit if they swapped their faulty phones with another Samsung handset.

The half-dozen customers buying the new iPhone at a KT store in central Seoul on Friday were all long-time Apple users who had pre-ordered their handsets. Office worker Lee Kyung-Hee, 34, said she had moved fast when the pre-order service opened, fearing a surge of interest from unhappy Note 7 owners.

“I set an alarm and was very quick,” Lee said. In South Korea, retail prices for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus start from 869,000 won and 1.02 million won respectively, for their basic 32GB models.

AFP

Samsung Chromebook Pro leaks in all its metal glory; comes with 2K display and Pen Stylus

Image Credit: Samsung

By tech2 News Staff /  17 Oct 2016 , 10:27

New Chromebook models are just around the corner. Samsung has listed the latest model, Chromebook Pro, on its South Korean website. The latest Chromebook sports a 2K, 12.3-inch display with 3:2 aspect ratio along with effective resolution of 2400 x 1600.

Image Credit: Samsung

Samsung Chromebook comes with an all-aluminium design and a 360-degree hinge which effectively turns the device into a 2-in-1, allowing it to be used as an ultrabook as well as a large tablet. On the specs front, the Chromebook comes with a hexa-core processor with two Cortex-A72 and four Cortex-A53 cores, clocked at

Activist investor Elliott’s attempt to transform Samsung may push founding family to embrace change

Image Credit: REUTERS

  06 Oct 2016 , 13:56

Samsung Electronics Co shares jumped to a record high on Thursday after activist investor Elliott Management submitted unsolicited proposals for a radical corporate makeover at the world’s biggest smartphone maker. An attempt by the U.S. hedge fund to wring change at South Korea’s biggest conglomerate last year failed in acrimony. But investors and analysts said Elliott’s latest move could open the way for the founding Lee family to embrace change, cementing its grip as it negotiates succession from its ailing patriarch to the next generation and a hefty inheritance tax bill.

The approach on Wednesday by Elliott, which owns 0.62 percent of Samsung Electronics, came as the tech giant faced fresh claims of problems with its flagship Note 7 smartphone, with a report that a handset began smoking inside a U.S. plane on Wednesday. Last month’s global recall of 2.5 million devices is set to show up in modest earnings growth guidance the firm is expected to report on Friday.

Samsung said it will “carefully review” Elliott proposals for restructuring, splitting the firm into a

Biotech drugs maker Samsung BioLogics IPO expected to raise $2 billion in South Korea

Image Credit: REUTERS

  04 Oct 2016 , 12:21

Samsung BioLogics Co Ltd, a contract manufacturer of biotech drugs for global pharmaceutical firms, said on Tuesday its initial public offering is expected to raise as much as $2 billion in what is set to be South Korea’s third-largest IPO. The listing is aimed at helping fund an ambitious expansion in production capacity to make it the world’s largest contract manufacturer.

The offering of about 17 percent of the company is expected to consist of a new share issue of 11 million shares and the sale of 5.5 million existing shares by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. With an indicative pricing range of 113,000 won-136,000 won per share, the offering is expected to raise 2.25 trillion won ($2 billion). BioLogics said 780 billion won of the proceeds will be used for factory investment, while another 400 billion won will be invested in biosimilar drug developer unit Samsung Bioepis.

Samsung Electronics is the second-largest shareholder in BioLogics after Samsung C&T Corp, the de facto holding company for the Samsung Group. C&T and related shareholders will own 74.93 percent of the company after the listing. BioLogics expects to announce final pricing for the IPO on Oct. 28. This comes after Samsung electronics resumed the sale of ‘safe’ Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.

With inputs from Reuters