Founded in 1938, Samsung is the largest chaebol in South Korea. The myriad of companies under its brand are some of the biggest in their respective industries, but Samsung Electronics is the most notable. It makes some of the most popular phones in use today, and its flagship portfolio includes the Galaxy S-series and foldable Z-series devices. It also makes televisions, tablets, computers, headphones, and many of the displays, chips, and batteries found in devices from Apple, Sony, and others.
A lot of these features look awfully similar to the Apple Watch Ultra. Samsung isn’t shy about where it got its inspiration for this beefy squircle watch from.
This is an industrywide first. Fitbit first started working on this back in 2017! It’s not meant to be a diagnostic tool — these features never are. Rather, it’s meant to alert you and encourage you to talk to a doctor.
I got a chance to play around with the Galaxy Ring, but here’s the gist: it’s made of titanium, comes in three colors, has up to seven days of battery life, and will be a really great, discreet way to track your sleep.
The Energy Score uses four health metrics to tell you how ready you are to tackle the day, while the Wellness Tips feature gives you personalized advice based on those metrics. Annnnd these metrics get us into the Galaxy Ring.
Samsung says yes, you can. The company’s kicking this event off with a video about how its new phones, particularly the Z Flip 6, can live translate “Can I kick it” and “Yes you can” in a number of languages.
Watching the intro to today’s Galaxy Unpacked event, I’m reminded of this great David Imel video answering the most important question of our time: why did everyone decide that the official logo of AI is ***sparkles***?
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra hands-on: ultra déjà vu
It’s the Apple Watch Ultra, but for Android. Oh, and the Galaxy Watch 7 is here, too.
Samsung’s Galaxy Ring could be the one ring to rule an ecosystem
The hardware is solid. The ideas are intriguing. So long as it holds up in testing, Samsung could have a winner.
Just days after it reported a 15x increase in operating profit, over 6,500 workers are taking part in a three-day walkout at Samsung Electronics over pay and conditions. According to the FT:
The labor unrest is a new challenge for a company with an anti-labor reputation. Its union membership has sharply increased since chair Lee Jae-yong declared an end to the company’s no-unions policy in 2020.
Workers are threatening a five-day strike next week if demands are not met.
[FinancialTimes]
What to expect at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event on Wednesday
Foldables, AI, and smart rings, oh my!
The August update for the S24 Ultra will tweak things like how it handles HDR, processing, and exposure, but so far doesn’t touch “telephoto and night mode above 10x,” writes Samsung leaker Ice Universe in a post spotted by SamMobile.
Earlier this week, a leaked spec sheet revealed an odd hardware downgrade for Samsung’s incoming Galaxy Z Flip 6. The specs listed an IPS LCD for the outer display.
Now, SamMobile is reporting that someone likely just goofed up when making the document. The external cover screen will likely be OLED just like last year’s phone.
They won’t even be announced until next week, but this Redditor says they walked into a US Walmart, paid $250, and walked out with the Apple look-a-likes.
Verdict: the controls are the same as the AirPods Pro, but the new Galaxy Buds are more comfortable with better sound and ANC than the first gen Pros. We’ll see after they become official on July 10th.
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Just saying “AI” is good for business but it’s even better if you make chips, especially for Samsung after suffering a major slump in 2023. Here’s Reuters with the year-on-year comparison:
The world’s largest memory chip, smartphone and TV maker estimated its operating profit rose to 10.4 trillion won ($7.54 billion) in the quarter ended June 30, from 670 billion won a year earlier.
The new ice blue Z Flip 6 that Evan Blass just leaked? Now that’s color — shiny blue hinge, shiny blue sides, shiny blue camera lens rings. I own the mint green Flip 5 (see next image in gallery) and it’s mostly just black and silver. Too bad I couldn’t wait a year!
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Good news for anyone who is tired of the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s sharp corners digging into their palms: Samsung might round them off again for the S25 series.
That’s according to tipster Ice Universe, anyway, who posted the below about the change.
The marketing whiplash in this press release announcing the availability of the Galaxy Book4 Edge is really something.
It starts by praising the magic of AI (14 times), saying Samsung’s “next-gen AI PC will change the way users work, create and play through the power of AI.” It ends with this teeny tiny footnote for its “popular Galaxy AI:”
Samsung does not make any promises, assurances or guarantees as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of the output provided by AI features.
To be fair, Samsung didn’t say the change was good.
Specifications for the upcoming foldable have leaked ahead of its expected launch next month, with Smartprix reporting incremental improvements over its predecessor.
The device will supposedly feature a 7.6-inch 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2x internal screen with a 2160 x 1856 resolution and a 4:3.4 aspect ratio. It’s also 14 grams lighter and powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip.
Icons spotted on Samsung’s website show the Galaxy Buds 3 and 3 Pro headphones with AirPods-like stems — much like the leaked Galaxy Buds Pro 3 image posted by Evan Blass last week.
Samsung is releasing six limited-edition pairs of the Shortcut Sneaker in collaboration with Dutch designer Roel van Hoff. The Galaxy-themed sneakers come with built-in motion sensors that trigger certain actions on your phone, such as dancing to make a phone call or play music.
Evan Blass of Evleaks fame has leaked the upcoming design for the new Galaxy Buds 3 Pro headphones, which abandon the bulbous blob look of Samsung’s previous pro buds. We’ll know for sure in one month if rumors are true.