Samsung Electronics
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational
electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of the
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
chaebol, accounting for 70% of the group's revenue in 2012. Samsung Electronics has played a key role in the group's corporate governance due to circular ownership. Samsung Electronics has assembly plants and sales networks in 74 countries and employs around 290,000 people. It is majority-owned by foreign investors. Samsung Electronics is the world's second-largest technology company by revenue, and its market capitalization stood at US$520.65 billion, the 12th largest in the world. Samsung is a major manufacturer of Electronic Components such as lithium-ion batteries, semiconductors, image sensors, camera modules, and
displays A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form (the latter used for example in tactile electronic displays for blind people). When the input information that is supplied has an electrical signal the ...
for clients such as
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...
,
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
,
HTC HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...
, and
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
. It is the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones and
smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
s, starting with the original Samsung Solstice and later, the popularity of its
Samsung Galaxy Samsung Galaxy (, stylised as SΛMSUNG Galaxy since 2015 (except Japan where it omits the Samsung branding), previously stylised as Samsung GALAXY; abbreviated as SG) is a series of computing and mobile computing devices that are designed, m ...
line of devices. The company is also a major vendor of
tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being com ...
s, particularly its Android-powered
Samsung Galaxy Tab The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a line of Android-based and Windows-based tablet computers produced by Samsung Electronics. The first model in the series, the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab, was presented to the public on 2 September 2010 at the IFA in B ...
collection, and is regarded for developing the
phablet A phablet (, ) is a mobile device combining or straddling the size formats of smartphones and tablets. The word is a portmanteau of ''phone'' and ''tablet''. Phablets feature large displays that complement screen-intensive activity such as mo ...
market with the
Samsung Galaxy Note The Samsung Galaxy Note series is a discontinued line of high-end Android phablets and smartphones developed and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The line is primarily oriented towards pen computing; all Galaxy Note models ship with a styl ...
family of devices. It has also developed 5G capable smartphones including the
Galaxy S22 The Samsung Galaxy S22 is a series of Android-based smartphones designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Samsung Electronics as part of its Galaxy S series. Unveiled at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event on 9 February 2022. They collecti ...
, and foldable phones including the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Samsung has been the world's largest television manufacturer since 2006, and the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones since 2011, when it surpassed Apple. It is also the world's largest
memory chip Semiconductor memory is a digital electronic semiconductor device used for digital data storage, such as computer memory. It typically refers to devices in which data is stored within metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) memory cells on a sil ...
manufacturer and, from 2017 to 2018, had been the largest semiconductor company in the world, briefly dethroning
Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
, the decades-long champion. In 2012,
Kwon Oh-Hyun Kwon Oh-hyun (born 15 October 1952) is the former Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics. In 2013, ''Time Magazine'' added him to their top 100 list of most influential people. In October 2017, he announced that he would resign in March 20 ...
was appointed the company's CEO. He announced in October 2017 that he would resign in March 2018, citing an “unprecedented crisis”. The company had 3 CEOs (Ki Nam Kim, Hyun Suk Kim, and Dong-Jin Koh) from March 2018 until December 2021, when the business units were reorganized, and they were replaced by Kyung Kye-Hyun and Han Jong-hee. It has also had a separate regional CEO, HC Hong, who led the business in Southwest Asia from 2015 and then moved to Latin America in 2020.


History


1969–1987: Early years

Samsung Electric Industries was established as an industrial part of
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
Group on 19 January 1969 in Suwon, South Korea. At the time, Samsung Group was known to the South Korean public as a trading company specialized in fertilizers and sweeteners. Despite the lack of technology and resources, falling shorter even than the domestic competitors, Samsung Group improved its footing in the manufacturing industry by cooperating with the Japanese companies, a decision that instigated a significant amount of anti-Japanese public outcry and huge backlashes from the competitors fearing the outright subordination of the industry by the Japanese. The strategy was able to take off only after the government and Samsung declared that the company would exclusively focus on exports. Toshio Iue, the founder of
Sanyo , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded by ...
, played a role as an advisor to
Lee Byung-Chul Lee Byung-chul ( Korean: 이병철 12 February 1910 – 19 November 1987) was a South Korean businessman. He was the founder of the Samsung Group, which is South Korea's largest chaebol, and he is considered one of South Korea's most success ...
, Samsung's founder, who was a novice in the electronics business. December the same year, Samsung Electric established a joint venture named Samsung-Sanyo Electric with
Sanyo , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded by ...
and Sumitomo Corporation. This is the direct predecessor of today's Samsung Electronics. The joint venture's early products were electronic and electrical appliances including televisions, calculators, refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines. In 1970, Samsung established the joint venture Samsung-NEC with Japan's NEC Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation to manufacture home appliances and audiovisual devices. Samsung-NEC later became Samsung SDI, the group's display and battery business unit. In 1973, Samsung and Sanyo created Samsung-Sanyo Parts, the predecessor of
Samsung Electro-Mechanics Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEM, Korean: 삼성전기) is a multinational electronic component company headquartered in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. It is a subsidiary of the Samsung Group. The company produces chip parts such as MLCCs, p ...
. By 1981, Samsung Electric had manufactured over 10 million black-and-white televisions. In 1974, Samsung Group expanded into the
semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...
business by acquiring Korea Semiconductor, which was on the verge of bankruptcy whilst building one of the first chip-making facilities in the country at the time. Soon after, Korea Telecommunications, an electronic switching system producer and a Samsung Group company, took over the semiconductor business and became Samsung Semiconductor & Communications. In February 1983, Lee, along with the board of the Samsung industry and corporation agreement and help by sponsoring the event, made an announcement later dubbed the "Tokyo declaration", in which he declared that Samsung intended to become a dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) vendor. One year later, Samsung announced that it successfully developed a 64 kb DRAM, reducing the technological gap between the companies from first-world countries and the young electronics maker from more than a decade to approximately four years. In the process, Samsung used technologies imported from Micron Technology of the U.S for the development of DRAM and
Sharp Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products, headquartered in Sakai-ku, Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. Since 2016 it has been majority owned by the Taiwan-based Foxconn Group. Sharp employs more than 5 ...
of Japan for its SRAM and ROM. In 1988, Samsung Electric Industries merged with Samsung Semiconductor & Communications to form Samsung Electronics, as before that, they had not been one company and had not been a leading corporation together, but they were not rivals, as they had been in talks for a time until they finally merged. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Samsung sold personal computers under the Leading Technology brand. However, the equipment was manufactured by Samsung, and the FCC filings from this period typically refer to Samsung products.


1988–1995: Consumer struggles

In 1988, Samsung Electronics launched its first mobile phone in the South Korean market. Sales were initially poor, and by the early 1990s, Motorola held a market share of over 60 percent in the country's mobile phone market compared to just 10 percent for Samsung. Samsung's mobile phone division also struggled with poor quality and inferior products until the mid-1990s, and exit from the sector was a frequent topic of discussion within the company.


1995–2008: Component manufacturing and design strategy

Lee Kun-Hee decided that Samsung needed to change its strategy. The company shelved the production of many under-selling product lines and instead pursued a process of designing and manufacturing components and investing in new technologies for other companies. In addition, Samsung outlined a 10-year plan to shrug off its image as a "budget brand" and to challenge
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
as the world's largest consumer electronics manufacturer. It was hoped that, in this way, Samsung would gain an understanding of how products are made and give a technological lead sometime in the future. This patient
vertical integration In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the suppl ...
strategy of manufacturing components has borne fruit for Samsung in the late 2000s. A complementary brand leadership strategy was also initiated by chairman Lee when he declared 1996 to be the "Year of Design Revolution" at Samsung. His objective was to build Samsung design capabilities as a competitive asset and transform the company into a global brand-design leader. However, this effort required major changes in corporate culture, processes, and systems. By integrating a comprehensive design management system and strategy into the corporate culture, Samsung was successful in developing an award-winning product design portfolio by the late 1990s, resulting in significant brand equity growth.Chung, K.; Hardy, T.; So, S., ″Strategic Realization

, ''Design Management Journal'', Winter 2000, pp.65–9
Nussbaum, B., "The Hungriest Tiger", ''Business Week'', 2 June 1997, p.99Delaney, M.; Hardy, T.; McFarland, J.; Yoon, G., ″Global Localization″, ''Innovation'', Summer 2002, pp.46–9 As Samsung shifted away from consumer markets, the company devised a plan to sponsor major sporting events. One such sponsorship was for the
1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...
held in
Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...
, Japan. As a chaebol, Samsung Group wielded wealth that allowed the company to invest and develop new technology rather than build products at a level that would not have a detrimental impact on Samsung's finances. Samsung had a number of technological breakthroughs, particularly in the field of memory which are commonplace in most electrical products today. This includes the world's first 64MB DRAM in 1992, 256 MB DRAM in 1994, and 1GB DRAM in 1996. In 2004, Samsung developed the world's first 8GB NAND flash memory chip, and a manufacturing deal was struck with Apple in 2005. A deal to supply Apple with memory chips was sealed in 2005, and Samsung remains a key supplier of Apple components as of October 2013, manufacturing the A7 processors inside the iPhone 5S model.


2008–present: Recent developments

From 2000 to 2003, Samsung posted net earnings higher than five-percent; this was at a time when 16 out of the 30 top South Korean companies ceased operating in the wake of the unprecedented crisis. In 2005, Samsung Electronics surpassed its Japanese rival
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
for the first time to become the world's twentieth-largest and most popular consumer brand, as measured by Interbrand. In 2007, Samsung Electronics became the world's second-largest smartphone manufacturer, overtaking Motorola for the first time. In 2009, Samsung achieved total revenues of US$117.4 billion, overtaking Hewlett-Packard to become the world's largest technology company measured by sales. In 2009 and 2010, the US and EU fined the company, along with eight other memory chip manufacturers, for its part in a price-fixing scheme that occurred between 1999 and 2002. Other companies fined included Infineon Technologies, Elpida Memory, and Micron Technology. In December 2010, the EU granted immunity to Samsung Electronics for acting as an informant during the investigation (LG Display, AU Optronics, Chimei InnoLux, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, and HannStar Display were implicated as a result of the company's intelligence). Despite its consistent expansion, Samsung, along with its chairman Lee Kun-hee, has developed a reputation for insecurity regarding its financial stability and the potential for future crises to arise. After returning from a temporary retirement period in March 2010, Kun-hee stated that "Samsung Electronics' future is not guaranteed because most of our flagship products will be obsolete in 10 years from now." The company has set an ambitious goal of reaching $400 billion in annual revenues within ten years. The company has 24 research-and-development centers around the world, and since the early 2000s and in Vision 2020, Samsung has emphasized technical research and development. However, the large number of online complaints indicate that the company is weak at listening to customer feedback regarding the design of its technology and software. In April 2011, Samsung Electronics sold its HDD commercial operations to Seagate Technology for approximately US$1.4 billion. The payment was composed of 45.2 million Seagate shares (9.6 percent of shares), worth US$687.5 million, and a cash sum for the remainder. In May 2013, Samsung announced that it had finally managed to test speed-enhanced fifth-generation (5G) technology successfully. In April 2013, Samsung Electronics' new entry into its Galaxy S series smartphone range, the
Galaxy S4 The Samsung Galaxy S4 is an Android smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics as the fourth smartphone of the Samsung Galaxy S series and was first shown publicly on March 14, 2013, at Samsung Mobile Unpacked in New York City. It is the succe ...
was made available for retail. Released as the upgrade of the best-selling Galaxy S III, the S4 was sold in some international markets with the company's
Exynos Exynos, formerly Hummingbird (), is a series of ARM-based system-on-chips developed by Samsung Electronics' System LSI division and manufactured by Samsung Foundry. It is a continuation of Samsung's earlier S3C, S5L and S5P line of SoCs. E ...
processor. In July 2013, Samsung Electronics forecasted weaker than expected profits for its April to June quarter. While analysts expected around 10.1 trillion won, Samsung Electronics estimated an operating profit of . During the same month, Samsung acquired the media streaming device manufacturer Boxee for a reported $30 million. Samsung's mobile business chief Shin Jong-Kyun stated to the ''Korea Times'' on 11 September 2013 that Samsung Electronics will further develop its presence in China to strengthen its market position in relation to Apple. The Samsung executive also confirmed that a 64-bit smartphone handset will be released to match the ARM-based A7 processor of Apple's iPhone 5s model that was released in September 2013. Due to smartphone sales—especially sales of lower-priced handsets in markets such as India and China—Samsung achieved record earnings in the third quarter of 2013. The operating profit for this period rose to about , a figure that was boosted by memory chip sales to customers such as Apple, Inc. On 14 October 2013, Samsung Electronics publicly apologized for using refurbished components from cheaper desktop computers to fix higher-end products, after the corporation's unethical business practices were exposed on the previous day by MBC TV's current affairs magazine, ''2580''. In February 2014, Barnes & Noble announced a new Nook color tablet would be released in 2014. In June 2014, Barnes & Noble announced it would be teaming up with Samsung – one of the leaders in Android-based tablets – to develop co-branded color tablets titled the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook; the devices will feature Samsung's hardware, including a 7-inch display, and customized Nook software from Barnes & Noble. The first Galaxy Tab 4 Nook will begin selling in the US in August 2014, with Nook focusing on the software and content, and Samsung focusing on the hardware. The product specs posted by Samsung indicate that, in contrast to the premium quality enhanced eReaders launched in 2012 (the NOOK HD and HD+, which "had screens and CPUs comparable to the best mid-level and premium tablets), the more budget-like features of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook will be designed for a lower market tier (Android 4.4.2 KitKat on a 1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon CPU with 1.5GB RAM, Wifi, and Bluetooth, in addition to a 1.2MP front-facing camera and a 3MP rear camera, screen resolution of 1280 x 800, and a $199 retail price; roughly $80 more than comparable tablets that don't carry a Samsung brand)." Samsung provided sponsorship for the 86th Academy Awards ceremony (held on 4 March 2014) and, due to the use of the Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone product by host
Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom ''Ellen'' from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for " The Puppy Episode". Sh ...
in a group selfie photograph that became an online viral phenomenon, the corporation donated US$3 million to two charitable organizations selected by DeGeneres. The official Samsung statement explained: "... we wanted to make a donation to Ellen's charities of choice: St Jude's and the Humane Society. Samsung will donate 1.5 million dollars to each charity." On 17 April 2014, Samsung announced it was discontinuing its ebook store effective 1 July 2014 and had partnered with Amazon to introduce the Kindle for Samsung app, that will permit Galaxy device users using Android 4.0 and up to buy and read content from Amazon's catalog of periodicals and ebooks, and free book service, Samsung Book Deals, that will allow users of the co-branded app to choose one free ebook monthly from a selection provided by Amazon. In reporting on Barnes & Noble's 5 June 2014 announcement that the bookseller would be teaming up with Samsung to develop Nook tablets, the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
noted:
"Barnes & Noble says it will continue to make and sell its $99
Nook Glowlight The Barnes & Noble Nook (styled nook or NOOK) is a brand of e-readers developed by American book retailer Barnes & Noble, based on the Android platform. The original device was announced in the U.S. in October 2009, and was released the next ...
ice-readers and provide customer support." "The company also says it is moving its Nook employees out of its Palo Alto, Calif., offices to save money. Employees are expected to move to a smaller space in nearby Santa Clara, Calif., by July."
In Q1 2015, Samsung's profit dropped 39% to USD4.35 billion due to heavier smartphone competition from Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, as well as a slew of Android competitors. In August 2014, Samsung announced that they had reached an agreement to acquire SmartThings. The acquisition was seen as a move by Samsung to move into the internet of things space. On 27 March 2015, Samsung announced that they sold their headquarters in Roppongi T-Cube to Mitsui Fudosan with staff already relocated to Iidabashi. In May 2015, Samsung announced a partnership with IKEA, in accordance with the Wireless Power Consortium, to co-develop furniture that would allow Qi inductive charging at the Mobile World Congress. In June, Samsung established a dedicated LFD business, Samsung Display Solutions, catering to the company's SMART range of LED products. The company's SMART range of LED displays include Signage,
Hospitality Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt describes ...
Display, TV, LED, Cloud Display, and Accessories. The company caters to the following industries: Retail,
Corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
, Hospitality, and Transportation. On 16 June 2016, Samsung Electronics announced that it agreed to acquire cloud-computing company Joyent. They stated that the acquisition allowed Samsung to grow its cloud-based services for its smartphones and Internet-connected devices. On 14 November 2016, Samsung Electronics announced an agreement to buy American automotive equipment manufacturer
Harman International Industries Harman International Industries, commonly known as Harman (stylized in all-uppercase as HARMAN), is an American audio electronics company. Since 2017, the company has been an independent subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. Headquartered in Stam ...
for US$8 billion. On 10 March 2017, the acquisition was completed. On 6 April 2017, Samsung Electronics reported that financials were up for the company in the quarter. The year prior, "memory chips and flexible displays accounted for about 68% of Samsung's operating profit in the final quarter of 2016, a change from previous years when the smartphone business was the main contributor." On 2 May 2017, Samsung has been given permission from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of Korea to start testing a
self-driving car A self-driving car, also known as an autonomous car, driver-less car, or robotic car (robo-car), is a car that is capable of traveling without human input.Xie, S.; Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Ding, Z.; Arvin, F.,Distributed Motion Planning for S ...
technology. According to the Korea Herald, the company will be using a customized Hyundai car for the tests. In May 2019, for the first time in Europe, 8K demonstration content was received via satellite without the need for a separate external receiver or decoder using a Samsung TV. At the 2019
SES SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to: Business and economics * Socioeconomic status * Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland * SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia) * SES S.A., ...
Industry Days conference at Betzdorf, Luxembourg broadcast quality 8K content (with a resolution of 7680x4320 pixels at 50 frames/s) was encoded using a Spin Digital HEVC encoder (at a data rate of 70 Mbit/s), uplinked to a single 33 MHz transponder on SES' Astra 28.2°E satellites and the downlink received and displayed on a Samsung 82in Q950RB production model TV. Samsung proposed a $17 billion plan to build a chip-making factory in either Arizona, Texas, or New York in 2021. The plan is in part a result of the United States allocating billions of dollars to grow domestic chip manufacturing as part of the National Defence Authorization Act passed in January to reduce the country's reliance on Taiwan, China, and South Korea. The plant would employ around 1,900 people and would be in operation by October 2022. On 24 November 2021, Samsung announced that it would build a new semiconductor manufacturing facility in Taylor, Texas. The plant is estimated to be a $17 billion investment and will help boost the production of advanced logic semiconductors, reportedly as advanced as 3 nanometers. On 7 December 2021, Samsung Electronics announced the merger of the mobile and consumer electronics divisions. The company also replaced the leaders of its three business units. Kyung Kye-Hyun will become the CEO of Samsung's powerhouse components business while Han Jong-hee will become the new CEO of the combined mobile and consumer electronics business. In late January 2022, Samsung Electronics posted its highest fourth-quarter profit since before the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, largely because of strong chip sales amid the global semiconductor shortage and a small increase in mobile phone sales. Samsung’s operating profit topped $11.5 billion, up 53% from the 2021 fourth-quarter, with the company's chip business responsible for nearly two-thirds of the total profit. In March 2022, amid
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
Samsung pledged $5 million to the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and other charities in addition to $1 million worth of personal electronics donated to the people of Ukraine. On March 4, 2022, Samsung suspended the shipments of all its products to Russia because of the Russian aggresion towards Ukraine.


President Biden visit

On 20 May 2022, President Biden met with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the Samsung Electronics' semiconductor complex in
Pyeongtaek Pyeongtaek () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Located in the southwestern part of the province, Pyeongtaek was founded as a union of two districts in 940, during the Goryeo dynasty. It was elevated to city status in 1986 and is home t ...
, South Korea. The two leaders spoke of the importance of the semiconductor industry and on strengthening the technological innovations between the two countries.


Global reputation

In mid-November 2021, Samsung Electronics was ranked second in the 'Best Global Brands' by YouGov a market research firm, after placing fourth in the 2020 ranking. In June 2022, PricewaterhouseCoopers ranked Samsung Electronics 22nd on their global top 100 companies by market capitalization. The company slid seven notches from the 2021 rankings due to global inflation, the war in Ukraine, and global monetary tightening.


Logo history


Operations

The company focuses on four areas: digital media,
semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...
s, telecommunication networks, and LCD digital appliances. The digital-media business area covers computer devices such as laptop computers and
laser printer Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process. It produces high-quality text and graphics (and moderate-quality photographs) by repeatedly passing a laser beam back and forth over a negatively-charged cylinder called a "drum" to ...
s; digital displays such as televisions and computer monitors; consumer entertainment devices such as DVD players,
MP3 players A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
, and
digital camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...
s; home appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners,
air purifier An air purifier or air cleaner is a device which removes contaminants from the air in a room to improve indoor air quality. These devices are commonly marketed as being beneficial to allergy sufferers and asthmatics, and at reducing or eliminating ...
s, washing machines, microwave ovens, and vacuum cleaners. The semiconductor-business area includes semiconductor chips such as SDRAM, SRAM, NAND flash memory; smart cards; Mobile application development mobile application processors;
mobile TV Mobile television is television watched on a small handheld or mobile device. It includes service delivered via mobile phone networks, received free-to-air via terrestrial television stations, or via satellite broadcast. Regular broadcast stand ...
receivers; RF transceivers; CMOS Image sensors, Smart Card IC, MP3 IC, DVD/Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD Player SOC, and multi-chip package (MCP). The telecommunication-network-business area includes multi-service DSLAMs and
fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...
machines; cellular devices such as mobile phones, PDA phones, and hybrid devices called mobile intelligent terminals (MITs); and satellite receivers. The LCD business area focuses on producing TFT-LCD and
organic light-emitting diode An organic light-emitting diode (OLED or organic LED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light i ...
(OLED) panels for laptops, desktop monitors, and televisions. Samsung Print was established in 2009 as a separate entity to focus on B2B sales and released a broad range of multifunctional devices, printers, and more. As of 2018, Samsung sold its printing business to HP.


Products

Samsung Electronics produces LCD and LED panels, mobile phones, memory chips, NAND flash,
solid-state drive A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It is a ...
s, televisions, digital cinemas screen, and laptops and many more products. The company previously produced hard-drives and printers. Samsung consistently invests in innovation. In 2021, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s annual World Intellectual Property Indicators report ranked Samsung's number of patent applications published under the PCT System as 2nd in the world, with 3,093 patent applications being published during 2020. This position is up from their previous ranking as 3rd in 2019 with 2,334 applications.


LCD and OLED panels

By 2004 Samsung was the world's-largest manufacturer of OLEDs, with a 40 percent market share worldwide and as of 2018 has a 98% share of the global
AMOLED AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matrix ...
market. The company generated $100.2 million out of the total $475 million revenues in the global OLED market in 2006. As of 2006, it held more than 600 American patents and more than 2,800 international patents, making it the largest owner of
AMOLED AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matrix ...
technology patents. Samsung's current
AMOLED AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matrix ...
smartphones use its
Super AMOLED AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matrix ...
trademark, with the Samsung Wave S8500 and Samsung i9000 Galaxy S being launched in June 2010. In January 2011, it announced its Super AMOLED Plus displays – which offer several advances over the older
Super AMOLED AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matrix ...
displays – real stripe matrix (50 percent more sub pixels), thinner form factor, brighter image and an 18 percent reduction in energy consumption. In October 2007, Samsung introducing a ten-millimeter thick, 40-inch LCD television panel, followed in October 2008 by the world's first 7.9-mm panel. Samsung developed panels for 24-inch LCD monitors (3.5 mm) and 12.1-inch laptops (1.64 mm). In 2009, Samsung succeeded in developing a panel for forty-inch LED televisions, with a thickness of 3.9 millimeters (0.15 inch). Dubbed the "Needle Slim", the panel is as thick (or thin) as two coins put together. This is about a twelfth of the conventional LCD panel whose thickness is approximately 50 millimeters (1.97 inches). While reducing the thickness substantially, the company maintained the performance of previous models, including Full HD 1080p resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, and 5000:1 contrast ratio. On 6 September 2013, Samsung launched its 55-inch curved OLED TV (model KE55S9C) in the United Kingdom with John Lewis. In October 2013, Samsung disseminated a press release for its curved display technology with the Galaxy Round smartphone model. The press release described the product as the "world's first commercialized full HD Super AMOLED flexible display". The manufacturer explains that users can check information such as time and battery life when the home screen is off, and can receive information from the screen by tilting the device. In 2020, Samsung Display said it was exiting the LCD business.


Smartphones

Although Samsung started with Solstice lines, and has made
clamshell design The flip phone or clamshell is a form factor of a mobile phone or other device which is in two or more sections that fold via a hinge. If the hinge is on a long edge the device is more likely to be called clamshell than flip phone (e.g., No ...
cell phones, Samsung's flagship mobile handset line is the
Samsung Galaxy S series The Samsung Galaxy S series is a line of high-end Android smartphones produced by Samsung Electronics. Together with the foldable Galaxy Fold and the now discontinued Galaxy Note series, the lineup serves as Samsung's flagship smartphone lineup. ...
of smartphones, which many consider a direct competitor of the Apple iPhone. It was initially launched in Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea in June 2010, followed by the United States in July. It sold more than one million units within the first 45 days on sale in the United States. While many other handset manufacturers focused on one or two operating systems, Samsung for a time used several of them: Symbian,
Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design l ...
, Linux-based LiMo, and Samsung's proprietary
TouchWiz TouchWiz was a user interface developed by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd with partners, featuring a full touch user interface. It is sometimes incorrectly referred to as an operating system. TouchWiz is used internally by Samsung for smartphones, ...
,
Bada Bada (stylized as bada; Korean: ) is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Samsung Electronics for devices such as mid- to high-end smartphones and tablet computers. The name is derived from " (bada)", meaning "ocean" or "sea" in ...
and Tizen. By 2013 Samsung had dropped all operating systems except Android phone and Windows Phone. That year Samsung released at least 43 Android phones or tablets and two Windows Phones. At the end of the third quarter of 2010, the company had surpassed the 70 million unit mark in shipped phones, giving it a global market share of 22 percent, trailing
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
by 12 percent. Overall, the company sold 280 million mobile phones in 2010, corresponding to a market share of 20.2 percent. The company overtook Apple in worldwide smartphone sales during the third quarter 2011, with a total market share of 23.8 percent, compared to Apple's 14.6 percent share. Samsung became the world's largest smartphone manufacturer in 2012, with the sales of 95 million in the first quarter. During the third quarter of 2013, Samsung's smartphone sales improved in emerging markets such as India and the Middle East, where cheaper handsets were most popular. As of October 2013, the company offers 40 smartphone models on its US website such as the Samsung Galaxy Flip Z. In 2019, Samsung announced that it has ended production of mobile phones in China, due to lack of Chinese demand. As of 2019 Samsung employs over 200,000 employees in the Hanoi-area of Vietnam to produce Smartphones, while offscouring some manufacturing to China and manufacturing large portions of its phones in India. US variants of Samsung Galaxy smartphones do not have the option to unlock the bootloader. In May 2022, Samsung Electronics announced the company had expanded the Samsung Knox enterprise mobile security platform with the introduction of Samsung Knox Guard. It allows companies to quickly make phones unusable to potentially deter theft and reduce risk of fraud and data breaches.


Semiconductors

Samsung Electronics has been the world's largest
memory chip Semiconductor memory is a digital electronic semiconductor device used for digital data storage, such as computer memory. It typically refers to devices in which data is stored within metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) memory cells on a sil ...
manufacturer since 1993, and the largest
semiconductor company The semiconductor industry is the aggregate of companies engaged in the design and fabrication of semiconductors and semiconductor devices, such as transistors and integrated circuits. It formed around 1960, once the fabrication of semiconduct ...
since 2017. Samsung Semiconductor division manufactures various
semiconductor devices A semiconductor device is an electronic component that relies on the electronic properties of a semiconductor material (primarily silicon, germanium, and gallium arsenide, as well as organic semiconductors) for its function. Its conductivity l ...
, including
semiconductor node A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...
s, MOSFET transistors, integrated circuit chips, and semiconductor memory. Since the early 1990s, Samsung Electronics has commercially introduced a number of new memory technologies. They commercially introduced SDRAM (synchronous dynamic
random-access memory Random-access memory (RAM; ) is a form of computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working data and machine code. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read or written in almost the ...
) in 1992, and later
DDR SDRAM Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DDR SDRAM) is a double data rate (DDR) synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) class of memory integrated circuits used in computers. DDR SDRAM, also retroactively called DDR1 ...
( double data rate SDRAM) and GDDR (graphics DDR)
SGRAM Synchronous dynamic random-access memory (synchronous dynamic RAM or SDRAM) is any DRAM where the operation of its external pin interface is coordinated by an externally supplied clock signal. DRAM integrated circuits (ICs) produced from the ea ...
(synchronous graphics RAM) in 1998. In 2009, Samsung started mass-producing 30 nm-class NAND flash memory, and in 2010 succeeded in mass-producing 30 nm class DRAM and 20 nm class NAND flash, both of which were for the first time in the world. They also commercially introduced TLC (triple-level cell) NAND flash memory in 2010, V-NAND flash in 2013, LPDDR4 SDRAM in 2013,
HBM2 High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is a high-speed computer memory interface for 3D-stacked synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) initially from Samsung, AMD and SK Hynix. It is used in conjunction with high-performance graphics accelerato ...
in 2016, GDDR6 in January 2018, and LPDDR5 in June 2018. Another area where the company has had significant business in for years is the foundry segment. It had begun investment in the foundry business since 2006, and positioned it as one of the strategic pillars for semiconductor growth. Since then, Samsung has been a leader in
semiconductor device fabrication Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to manufacture semiconductor devices, typically integrated circuit (IC) chips such as modern computer processors, microcontrollers, and memory chips such as NAND flash and DRAM that are p ...
. Samsung began mass-production of a 20 nm class semiconductor manufacturing process in 2010, followed by a 10 nm class FinFET process in 2013, and
7 nm In semiconductor manufacturing, the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors defines the 7  nm process as the MOSFET technology node following the 10 nm node. It is based on FinFET (fin field-effect transistor) technology, ...
FinFET nodes in 2018. They also began production of the first
5 nm In semiconductor manufacturing, the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems defines the 5  nm process as the MOSFET technology node following the 7 nm node. In 2020, Samsung and TSMC entered volume production of 5 nm chips, ...
nodes in late 2018, with plans to introduce 3 nm
GAAFET A multigate device, multi-gate MOSFET or multi-gate field-effect transistor (MuGFET) refers to a metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) that has more than one gate on a single transistor. The multiple gates may be contro ...
nodes by 2021. According to market research firm Gartner, during the second quarter of 2010, Samsung Electronics took the top position in the DRAM segment due to brisk sales of the item on the world market. Gartner analysts said in their report, "Samsung cemented its leading position by taking a 35-percent market share. All the other suppliers had minimal change in their shares." The company took the top slot in the ranking, followed by Hynix, Elpida, and Micron, said Gartner. In 2010, market researcher IC Insights predicted that Samsung would become the world's-biggest
semiconductor chip An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
supplier by 2014, surpassing
Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
. For the ten-year period from 1999 to 2009, Samsung's compound annual growth rate in semiconductor revenues was 13.5 percent, compared with 3.4 percent for Intel. For 2015, IC Insights and Gartner announced that Samsung was the fourth largest chip manufacturer in the world. Samsung eventually surpassed Intel to become the world's largest
semiconductor company The semiconductor industry is the aggregate of companies engaged in the design and fabrication of semiconductors and semiconductor devices, such as transistors and integrated circuits. It formed around 1960, once the fabrication of semiconduct ...
in 2017. By the second quarter of 2020 the company had planned to start mass production of 5 nm chips using Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) and aimed to become a leader in EUV process use. On 30 November 2021, it was announced that the company would be producing new auto chips for
Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
vehicles. The logic chips will be used in entertainment systems to provide 5G telecommunications to meet the increased demand for high-definition video while traveling. The
Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...
China facility, which has been running since 2014 and it produces approximately 40 percent of Samsung Electronics NAND flash memory chips.


Solid-state drives

In 2016, Samsung also launched to market a 15.36TB SSD with a price tag of US$10,000 using a SAS interface, using a 2.5-inch form factor but with the thickness of 3.5-inch drives. This was the first time a commercially available SSD had more capacity than the largest currently available HDD. In 2018, Samsung introduced to market a 30.72 TB SSD using a SAS interface. Samsung introduced an
M.2 M.2, pronounced ''m dot two'' and formerly known as the Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF), is a specification for internally mounted computer expansion cards and associated connectors. M.2 replaces the mSATA standard, which uses the PCI Ex ...
NVMe NVM Express (NVMe) or Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification (NVMHCIS) is an open, logical-device interface specification for accessing a computer's non-volatile storage media usually attached via PCI Express (PCIe) bus. The ...
SSD with read speeds of 3500 MB/s and write speeds of 3300 MB/s in the same year. In 2019, Samsung introduced SSDs capable of 8 GB/s sequential read and write speeds and 1.5 million IOPS, capable of moving data from damaged chips to undamaged chips, to allow the SSD to continue working normally, albeit at a lower capacity. Samsung's consumer SSD lineup currently consists of the 980 PRO, 970 PRO, 970 EVO plus, 970 EVO, 960 PRO, 960 EVO, 950 PRO, 860 QVO, 860 PRO, 860 EVO, 850 PRO, 850 EVO, and the 750 EVO. The SSDs models beginning with a 9 use an NVM Express interface and the rest use a Serial ATA interface. Samsung also produces consumer portable SSDs using a
USB-C USB-C (properly known as USB Type-C) is a 24-pin USB connector system with a rotationally symmetrical connector. The designation C refers only to the connector's physical configuration or form factor and should not be confused with the conn ...
USB 3.1 Gen 2 connector. The drives offer read speeds of 1,050MB/s and write speeds of 1,000MB/s and are available as 500GB, 1TB and 2TB models. Like many other SSD producers, Samsung's SSDs use NAND flash memory produced by Samsung Electronics.


Hard-drives

In the area of
storage media Data storage is the recording (storing) of information (data) in a storage medium. Handwriting, phonographic recording, magnetic tape, and optical discs are all examples of storage media. Biological molecules such as RNA and DNA are consi ...
, in 2009 Samsung achieved a ten percent world market share, driven by the introduction of a new
hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...
capable of storing 250Gb per 2.5-inch disk. In 2010, the company started marketing the 320Gb-per-disk HDD, the largest in the industry. In addition, it was focusing more on selling external hard disk drives. Following financial losses, the hard disk division was sold to Seagate in 2011 in return for a 9.6% ownership stake in Seagate.


Televisions

In 2009, Samsung sold around 31 million flat-panel televisions, enabling to it to maintain the world's largest market share for a fourth consecutive year. Samsung launched its first full HD 3D LED television in March 2010. Samsung had showcased the product at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2010) held in Las Vegas. Samsung sold more than one million 3D televisions within six months of its launch. This is the figure close to what many market researchers forecast for the year's worldwide 3D television sales (1.23 million units). It also debuted the 3D Home Theater (HT-C6950W) that allows the user to enjoy 3D image and surround sound at the same time. With the launch of 3D Home Theater, Samsung became the first company in the industry to have the full line of 3D offerings, including 3D television, 3D Blu-ray player, 3D content, and 3D glasses. In 2007, Samsung introduced the "Internet TV", enabling the viewer to receive information from the Internet while at the same time watching conventional television programming. Samsung later developed "Smart LED TV" (now renamed to "Samsung Smart TV"), which additionally supports downloaded smart television apps. In 2008, the company launched the Power Infolink service, followed in 2009 by a whole new Internet@TV. In 2010, it started marketing the 3D television while unveiling the upgraded Internet@TV 2010, which offers free (or for-fee) download of applications from its Samsung Apps Store, in addition to existing services such as news, weather, stock market, YouTube videos, and movies. Samsung Apps offers for-fee premium services in a few countries including Korea and the United States. The services will be custom-tailored for each region. Samsung plans to offer family-oriented applications such as health care programs and digital picture frames as well as games. Samsung's range of
smart TV A smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features, which allows users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart TVs are a techn ...
s include the apps
ITV Player ITVX (formerly ITV Hub) is a British online video-on-demand service operated by ITV. The service offers predominantly features content from ITV1, as well as ITV Digital channels and some licensed content. The service was known as ITV Player ...
and motion controlled
Angry Birds ''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish action-based media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment. The game series focuses on the eponymous flock of angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Crush the Castl ...
.


Monitors

The company started as a budget display monitor brand in the 1980s, producing cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors for computers, from which it then evolved. By the end of the decade, Samsung had become the world's largest monitor manufacturer, selling over monitors by 1989. During the 1990s to the 2000s, Samsung started producing LCD monitors using TFT technology to which it still emphasizes on the budget market against the competition while at the same time starting to also focus on catering to the middle and upper markets through partnership with brands such as NEC and
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
via a joint venture. As it grew and became more advanced, it later on acquired the joint venture corporations to form the current Samsung OLED and S-LCD Corporation respectively from its former joint venture partners.


Tizen

As of 2015, Samsung smart televisions and smart monitors run an operating system customized from the open-source
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...
-based Tizen OS. Given Samsung's high market share in the smart television market, approximately 20% of smart televisions sold worldwide in 2018 run Tizen. In 2019, Samsung announced that they will be bringing the
Apple TV app The Apple TV app (also known as Apple TV, TV, and the TV app) is a line of media player software programs developed by Apple Inc. for viewing television shows and films delivered by Apple to consumer electronic devices. It can stream content ...
(formally iTunes Movies and TV Shows app) and
AirPlay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...
2 support to its 2019 and 2018 smart TVs (via firmware update).


Odyssey

Samsung's Odyssey Gaming Monitors are designed for professional gamers and gaming enthusiasts. As of 2022, the Odyssey range consists of 4 main series, each with different resolutions, refresh rate and aspect ratio. In 2022, Samsung launched the Odyssek Ark, the World's First 55-inch 1000R curved gaming screen. This monitor has 4K resolution with 165Gz refresh rate and 1ms response time.


Printers

In the past, Samsung produced printers for both consumers and business use, including mono-laser printers, color laser printers, multifunction printers, and enterprise-use high-speed digital multi-function printer models. They exited the printer business and sold their printer division to HP in Fall 2017. In 2010, the company introduced the world's smallest mono-laser printer ML-1660 and color laser multifunction printer CLX-3185.


Speakers

In 2017, Samsung acquired Harman International. Harman makes earbuds under many brand names such as AKG, AMX,
Becker Becker () is one of the German-language surnames, along with Bäcker and Baecker, that derive from the root, which refers to baking. The surname began as a name for a baker (and thus his family). In northern Germany it can also derive from the ...
,
Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, dbx, DigiTech, Mark Levinson, Martin, Revel, Soundcraft,
Studer Studer is a designer and manufacturer of professional audio equipment for recording studios and broadcasters. The company was founded in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1948 by Willi Studer. It initially became known in the 1950s for its professiona ...
,
Arcam Arcam AB manufactures electron beam melting (EBM) systems for use in additive manufacturing, which create solid parts from metal powders. Arcam also produces metal powder through AP&C and medical implants through DiSanto Technologies. Arcam AB w ...
, Bang & Olufsen and BSS Audio.


Cameras

Samsung has introduced several models of
digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devices ...
s and
camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...
s including the WB550 camera, the ST550 dual-LCD-mounted camera, and the HMX-H106 (64GB SSD-mounted full HD camcorder). In 2014, the company took the second place in the mirrorless camera segment. Since then, the company has focused more on higher-priced items. In 2010, the company launched the NX10, the next-generation interchangeable lens camera.


Other

Samsung entered the MP3 player (
digital audio player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
, DAP) market in 1999 with its
Yepp Yepp was Samsung Electronics' digital audio player brand until Samsung decided to retire most of their family brands in February 2011. From then on, their MP3 players were simply branded "Samsung" worldwide until they discontinued all of them i ...
line. In the initial years the company struggled to gain a foothold because of emerging Korean startups iRiver,
Cowon Cowon Systems, Inc. (simply known as Cowon) is a South Korean consumer electronics and software corporation. The company’s initial focus was software development and microelectronics, specializing in speech synthesis and speech recognition tec ...
and
Mpio MPIO or Mpio ( Hangul: 엠피오) was a South Korean consumer electronics brand and company. Established in 1998 by Woo Jung-Ku, it was one of Korea's early manufacturers of MP3 players and was known for producing portable digital audio players, ...
. However by 2006, it had gained a significant share in the domestic market as well as Russia and parts of the Middle East, South East Asia and Europe. It was also starting to increase penetration in the U.S. (albeit significantly lower than the market leader, Apple). Samsung launched the world's-smallest DivX MP3 player, the R1, in 2009. In 2010, the company introduced some more energy-efficient products, including the laptop R580 and the netbook N210. In 2014, the company announced that it was exiting the laptop market in Europe. In 2015, Samsung announced a proposal for a constellation of 4600 satellites orbiting Earth at altitude that could bring 200 gigabytes per month of internet data to "each of the world's 5 billion people". The proposal has not yet advanced to full
development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...
. If built, such a constellation would compete with previously-announced satellite constellations currently under development by
OneWeb OneWeb (legally Network Access Associates Ltd) is a communications company that aims to build broadband satellite Internet services. The company is headquartered in London, and has offices in Virginia, US and a satellite manufacturing facility ...
and SpaceX. On 13 July 2017, an LED screen for
digital cinema Digital cinema refers to adoption of digital technology within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to be sh ...
developed by Samsung Electronics with
GDC Technology Limited GDC may refer to: * Democratic Group of the Centre (Romanian: '), a political party in Romania * Donaldson Center Airport, Greenville, South Carolina, United States * Gabriel Dumont College, now Gabriel Dumont Institute, in Saskatchewan, Canada * ...
was publicly demonstrated on one screen at
Lotte Cinema Lotte Shopping Co., Ltd. ( Hangeul: 롯데쇼핑㈜롯데시네마) is a chain of movie theatres in South Korea. Lotte Cinema is multiplex place in South Korea. Lotte Cinema was established in 1999. As of January 2018, 112 facilities in Korea are ...
World Tower in
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
.


Samsung stores

Samsung has started opening dedicated stores to showcase their goods.


Korea

Samsung has various service stores throughout all of South Korea, which have showcases of various Samsung products available for purchase, and also have repair centers for those items. It also has stores dedicated to the installation of large household appliances such as TVs, dishwashers, and refrigerators. It also has stores just for the sale and repair of its memory products, such as the SSDs.


Canada


Toronto

Samsung has 4 different Samsung Experience Stores in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
. The main location is located within the
Toronto Eaton Centre The Toronto Eaton Centre (corporately styled as the CF Toronto Eaton Centre since September 2015, and commonly referred to simply as the Eaton Centre) is a shopping mall and office complex in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is ...
and has two levels. On the first floor there are phones, tablets, smartwatches, other electronics and accessories on display. There is also a Virtual Reality section where you can play VR games and sit in a chair to watch videos in VR, such as riding a roller coaster. On the second floor, there is a housewares section where Samsung fridges, stoves, appliances are shown. The TV section shows off their big-screen TVs. There is also a section for warranty and repairs. The other 3 locations are at: *
Scarborough Town Centre Scarborough Town Centre (STC) is a shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Central to the Scarborough City Centre in the former city of Scarborough, it is adjacent to Scarborough Centre station, the Scarborough Centre Bus Terminal and the C ...
* Sherway Gardens *
Yorkdale Shopping Centre Yorkdale Shopping Centre, or simply Yorkdale, is a major retail shopping centre in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located at the intersection of Highway 401 and Allen Road, it opened in 1964 as the largest enclosed shop ...


Others

Samsung has 3 other Samsung Experience Stores in Canada outside of Toronto. * Edmonton –
West Edmonton Mall West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is a shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta, that is owned, managed, and operated by Triple Five Group. It is the second most visited mall in Canada, after the Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, followed by Metrotown Mall in ...
* Vancouver–
Metropolis at Metrotown Metropolis at Metrotown (commonly referred to as Metrotown) is a three-storey shopping mall complex in the Metrotown area of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Opened in 1986, it is the largest mall in British Columbia and the third-largest ...
* Montreal – Montreal Eaton Center


India

Samsung has opened its Second largest store and all products experience center in the world in
Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
,
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
covering an area of 33,000 sq ft. It is also known as Samsung Opera House.


United States

Samsung has 5 Samsung Experience Stores in the United States. * Houston – The Galleria * Los Angeles –
Americana at Brand The Americana at Brand is a large shopping, dining, entertainment and residential complex in Glendale, California. The property was built and is owned and operated by Los Angeles businessman Rick J. Caruso and his company Caruso Affiliated. Ca ...
* Garden City –
Roosevelt Field Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located east-southeast of Mineola, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a training field (Hazel ...
* Palo Alto –
Stanford Shopping Center Stanford Shopping Center is an upscale open air shopping mall located on Route 82 ( El Camino Real) at Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto, California. It is on the campus of Stanford University although the university only owns the land and not the ac ...
* Dallas -
Stonebriar Centre Stonebriar Centre, commonly referred to as Stonebriar Mall, is a mid-range shopping mall located at the intersection of Preston Road ( SH 289) and the Sam Rayburn Tollway ( SH 121) in Frisco, Texas, U.S. It is currently anchored by Dick's Sportin ...


Experience shops

In addition to these locations, Samsung runs a Samsung Experience Shop located inside Best Buy stores.


Management and board of directors

In December 2010, Samsung switched its management system from a single CEO-system under Choi Gee-sung to a two-person management team with Choi Gee-sung, CEO and vice chairman, and Lee Jae-Yong, chief operating officer and president. In June 2012, Samsung appointed Kwon Oh-Hyun as CEO of the company. Samsung also reorganized its overseas marketing bases in line with changes in the market, including a combined Britain/Continental Europe regional subsidiary, and a combined China/Taiwan regional subsidiary. In 2012, Samsung appointed director of mobile products, J. K. Shin, to president/CEO of Samsung Electronics for Mobile Consumer Products. The company added a new digital imaging business division in 2010, and consists of eight divisions, including the existing display, IT solutions, consumer electronics, wireless, networking, semiconductor, and LCD divisions. It merged consumer electronics and air conditioners in 2010 under the consumer electronics business division. The set-top boxes business was merged with the Visual Display Business division. The company's December 2010 reorganization was as follows: Among the eight divisions, the network division and the digital imaging division experienced new appointments, while the remaining divisions were maintained in accordance with their results. * Chief executive officer, Vice chairman: Choi Gee-sung * Chief financial officer: President Yoon Ju-hwa * Chief operating officer, President: Lee Jae-yong * Chief executive officer, President: J. K. Shin The following are the names of the board of directors members:


Market share for major products


Major clients


Relationship with

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

Despite recent litigation activity, Samsung and Apple have been described as frenemies who share a love-hate relationship. Samsung is a major supplier for Apple – first providing memory for the early iPod devices in 2005, and Apple is a key customer for Samsung – in 2012 its component sales were thought to be worth in the region of $8 billion revenue to Samsung – to the point where Apple CEO
Tim Cook Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who has been the chief executive officer of Apple Inc. since 2011. Cook previously served as the company's chief operating officer under its co-founder Steve Jobs ...
originally opposed litigation against Samsung wary of the company's critical component supply chain for Apple. In April 2011,
Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
announced that it was suing Samsung over the design of its Galaxy range of mobile phones. The lawsuit was filed on 15 April 2011 and alleges that Samsung infringed on Apple's trademarks and patents of the iPhone and
iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...
. Samsung issued a
counterclaim In a court of law, a party's claim is a counterclaim if one party asserts claims in response to the claims of another. In other words, if a plaintiff initiates a lawsuit and a defendant responds to the lawsuit with claims of their own against th ...
against Apple of patent infringement. In August 2011, at The Regional Court of Düsseldorf, Apple was granted a preliminary injunction against the sale and marketing of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 across the whole of Europe excluding the Netherlands. The ban has been temporarily lifted in the European Union, with the exclusion of Germany, whilst it is investigated whether or not the original injunction was appropriate. On 31 August 2012, the
Tokyo District Court is a district court located at 1-1-4 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the ...
ruled Samsung Electronics' mobile devices did not violate an Apple patent. The case only addressed Apple's patent that allows mobile devices and personal computers to synchronize or share data with each other and is not comparable with the U.S. court case ruled on 24 August. On 18 October 2012, the U.K. High Court ruled that Samsung did not infringe Apple's design patents. Apple was forced to issue a court-ordered apology to Samsung on its official U.K. website.


Relationship with Best Buy Co, Inc.

Best Buy and Samsung joined together to create the Samsung Experience Shop, a store that allows customers to test the company's products, and get training in mobile products they already own. In summer 2013, more than 1,400 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores have established the Samsung Experience Shop. About 460 square feet of space are dedicated for the SES, with the company's placement at Best Buy's entrance, as well as its sign visible in any part of the store. The purpose of the Samsung Experience Shop is to make Samsung's products, i.e. the Galaxy, more accessible to customers. The first Samsung Experience Shops began appearing across Best Buy locations in the United States in May 2013. In May 2014, Best Buy announced its plans to add 500 new Samsung Entertainment Experience Shops. While the previous Samsung Experience locations focused primarily on showcasing and providing support for Samsung's Galaxy smartphones, cameras, and tablets, these new locations will showcase and support the company's home theater products. Unlike the Samsung Experience Shop, the Samsung Entertainment Experience will be run by Samsung trained Best Buy associates. The new centers are expected to finish being made in the US by January 2015.


Design

In the early 1990s, Samsung began considering the importance of physical design in its products. When chairman Lee declared 1996 'The Year of Design Revolution', a comprehensive global design program was initiated with the goal of design being a strategic asset and competitive advantage for the company. Located in the company's high-rise headquarters in Gangnam (south of Seoul) the corporate design center includes more than 900 full-time designers. In 1971 there were only a few designers in the whole company, whose number rose to 1,600 by 2015. In addition to the corporate design center in Seoul, there are design centers located in Tokyo, San Francisco and London. The company overhauls its design over a two-year cycle. For the first year, it scrutinizes design trends of the world, followed by product strategies. It then maps out new design plans during the second year. Since 2006, it has won as many as 210 awards from international design institutions. It received the iF (International Forum) and IDEA design awards. Working with partners, Samsung was the winner in eight categories in the 2009 IDEA awards, hence receiving the most awards. In the 2010 iF Material Awards, the company won the Gold Award for five of its products including the external hard disk drive. The iF Material Awards are given by the International Forum Design GmbH of Hannover, a design award for design materials and process technologies. In 2010, the German company selected a total of 42 products in the areas of home appliance, furniture, and industrial design. Samsung won the awards in five categories including external hard disk, full-touch screen phone, "side-by-side" refrigerator, compact digital camera, and laser printer toner.


Criticism and controversies


Environmental record

All Samsung mobile phones and MP3 players introduced on the market after April 2010 are free from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). The company is listed in Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics, which rates electronics companies on policies and practices to reduce their impact on the climate, produce greener products, and make their operations more sustainable. In November 2011, Samsung was ranked seventh out of 15 leading electronics manufacturers with a score of 4.1/10. In the newly re-launched guide, Samsung moved down two places (occupying fifth position in October 2010), but scored maximum points for providing verified data and its greenhouse gas emissions. It also scored well for its Sustainable Operations, with the guide praising its relatively good e-waste take-back programme and information. However, the company was criticized for not setting an ambitious target to increase its use of renewable energy and for belonging to a trade association which has commented against energy efficiency standards. In June 2004, Samsung was one of the first major electronics companies to publicly commit to eliminate PVC and BFRs from new models of all their products. However, the company failed to meet its deadlines to be PVC- and BFRs-free, and published new phase out dates. In March 2010, Greenpeace activists protested at the company's
Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: ...
headquarters for what they called Samsung's "broken promises". The company has been awarded as one of global top-ten companies in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI). It was the only Asian company among top ten companies. In addition, the company is listed in Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). The company's achievement ratio of products approaching the Global Ecolabel level ("Good Eco-Products" within the company) is 11 percentage points above the 2010 goal (80 percent). In the first half of 2010, Samsung earned the Global Ecolabel for its 2,134 models, thereby becoming the world's number-one company in terms of the number of products meeting Global Ecolabel standards. The company is also improving its effort to recover and recycle
electronic waste Electronic waste or e-waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for refurbishment, reuse, resale, salvage recycling through material recovery, or disposal are also considered e-waste. Inform ...
s. The number of wastes salvaged throughout 60 countries during 2009 was as much as 240,000 tons. The "Samsung Recycling Direct" program, the company's voluntary recycling program under way in the United States, was expanded to Canada. In 2008, the company was praised for its recycling effort by the U.S. advocacy group Electronics Take Back Coalition as the "best eco-friendly recycling program".


Litigation and safety issues


Worker safety

Many employees working in Samsung's semiconductor facilities have developed various forms of cancers. Initially, Samsung denied being responsible for the illnesses. Although Samsung is known to disfavor trade unions, these sick workers organized in the group SHARPS (Supporters for the Health And Rights of People in the Semiconductor Industry). The crowdfunded film '' Another Promise'' was produced in 2013 to depict the fight for compensation of the victims, as well as the documentary ''The Empire of Shame''. In May 2014, Samsung offered an apology and compensation to workers who became ill. The company subsequently did not follow all the recommendations of a specially appointed mediation committee, paid several families outside of a scheme to be agreed on and required them to drop all further charges, prompting SHARPS to continue legal and public action. The quarrel was mostly resolved upon a public apology issued by Samsung in November 2018.


DRAM price fixing

In December 2010, the European Commission fined six LCD panel producers, including Samsung, a total of €648 million for operating as a cartel. The company received a full reduction of the potential fine for being the first firm to assist EU anti-trust authorities. On 19 October 2011, Samsung was fined €145.73 million for being part of a price cartel of ten companies for DRAMs, which lasted from 1 July 1998 to 15 June 2002. Like most of the other members of the cartel, the company received a 10% reduction for acknowledging the facts to investigators. Samsung had to pay 90% of their share of the settlement, but Micron avoided payment as a result of having initially revealed the case to investigators. Micron remains the only company that avoided all payments from reduction under the settlement notice. In Canada, the price fix was investigated in 2002. A recession started to occur that year, and the price fix ended. However, in 2014, the Canadian government reopened the case and investigated silently after the EU's success. Sufficient evidence was found and presented to Samsung and two other manufacturers during a class action lawsuit hearing. The companies agreed upon a $120 million agreement, with $40 million as a fine, and $80 million to be paid back to Canadian citizens who purchased a computer, printer, MP3 player, gaming console or camera between April 1999 and June 2002.


Apple lawsuit

On 15 April 2011, Apple sued Samsung in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that several of Samsung's Android phones and tablets, including the
Nexus S The Nexus S 4G is a smartphone co-developed by Google and Samsung and manufactured by Samsung Electronics for release in 2010. It was the first smartphone to use the Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" operating system, and the first Android device to su ...
, Epic 4G, Galaxy S 4G, and Galaxy Tab, infringed on Apple's intellectual property: its patents, trademarks,
user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
and
style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
. Apple's complaint included specific federal claims for patent infringement, false designation of origin,
unfair competition Unfair may refer to: * Double Taz and Double LeBron James in multiverses ''fair''; unfairness or injustice Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situ ...
, and trademark infringement, as well as state-level claims for unfair competition, common law trademark infringement, and unjust enrichment. On 24 August 2012, the jury returned a verdict largely favorable to Apple. It found that Samsung had willfully infringed on Apple's design and utility patents, and had also diluted Apple's trade dresses related to the iPhone. The jury awarded Apple $1.049 billion in damages and Samsung zero damages in its countersuit. The jury found that Samsung infringed Apple's patents on iPhone's "Bounce-Back Effect" (US Patent No.7,469,381), "On-screen Navigation" (US Patent No.7,844,915), and "Tap To Zoom" (US Patent No.7,864,163), and design patents that cover iPhone's features such as the "home button, rounded corners and tapered edges" (US D593087) and "On-Screen Icons" (US D604305).


Product safety

Despite their phones' popularity, numerous explosions of them have been reported.Téléphonie mobile: Samsung prend l'explosion d'un de ses Galaxy "très au sérieux" – Faits Divers
. lematin.ch. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
A Swiss teenager was left with second and third degree burns on her thigh due to her Galaxy S3's explosion, followed by two more Galaxy S3 explosions in Switzerland and Ireland. A South Korean student's Galaxy S2 battery exploded in 2012. Samsung's Galaxy S4 also led to several accidents. A house in Hong Kong was allegedly set on fire by an S4 in July 2013, followed by minor S4 burn incidents in
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
and Russia. A minor fire was also reported in Newbury, United Kingdom in October 2013. Some users of the phone have also reported swelling batteries and overheating; Samsung has offered affected customers new batteries, free of charge. In December 2013, a Canadian uploaded a YouTube video describing his S4 combusting. Samsung then asked the uploader to sign a legal document requiring him to remove the video, remain silent about the agreement, and surrender any future claims against the company to receive a replacement. No further response from Samsung was received afterwards. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 Review and the
UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
.


Galaxy Note 7

On 31 August 2016, it was reported that Samsung was delaying shipments of the Galaxy Note 7 in some regions to perform "additional tests being conducted for product quality"; this came alongside user reports of batteries exploding while charging. On 2 September, Samsung suspended sales of the Note 7 and announced a worldwide "product exchange program" in which customers would be able to exchange their Note 7 for another Note 7, a
Galaxy S7 The Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Samsung Galaxy S7 Active are Android-based smartphones manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The S7 series serves as the successor to the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and ...
, or an S7 Edge (the price difference being refunded). They would also receive a gift card from a participating carrier. On 1 September, the company released a statement saying it had received 35 reports of battery failure, which, according to an unnamed Samsung official, "account for less than 0.2 percent of the entire volume sold".Samsung delays shipments of Galaxy Note 7 for quality control testing
, 31 August 2016. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 1 September 2016
Although it has been referred to as a product recall by the media, it was not an official government-issued recall by an organization such as the
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC, CPSC, or commission) is an independent agency of the United States government. The CPSC seeks to promote the safety of consumer products by addressing “unreasonable risks” of inj ...
(CPSC), and only a voluntary measure. The CPSC did issue an official recall notice on 15 September 2016, and stated that Samsung received at least 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the U.S., including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage. After some replacement Note 7 phones also caught fire, Samsung announced on 11 October 2016 that it would permanently end production of the Note 7 in the interest of customer safety. However, Samsung was hoping to recover from the lost sales from the Note 7 with the introduction of new colors such as the Blue Coral and Black Pearl color for the Galaxy S7 edge. On 14 October 2016, the U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...
and the Department of Transportation's
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is a United States Department of Transportation agency created in 2004, responsible for developing and enforcing regulations for the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound oper ...
banned the Note 7 from being taken aboard any airline flight, even if powered off.
Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...
,
Virgin Australia Virgin Australia, the trading name of Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd, is an Australian-based airline. It is the largest airline by fleet size to use the Virgin brand. It commenced services on 31 August 2000 as ''Virgin Blue'', with two ...
and
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines ( abbreviation: SIA) is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Singapore with its hub located at Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is notable for highlighting the Singapore Girl as its central figure in corporat ...
also banned the carriage of Note 7s on their aircraft with effect from midnight on 15 October. Mexico's largest airlines Aeromexico,
Interjet Interjet (official legal name ABC Aerolíneas, S.A. de C.V.), also known as Interjet Airlines, was a Mexican low-cost carrier headquartered in Mexico City. The airline operated scheduled flights to and from various destinations within Mexico, as ...
, Volaris and
VivaAerobus Aeroenlaces Nacionales, S.A. de C.V., trading as Viva Aerobus, is a Mexican low-cost airline fully owned by the largest bus company group in Mexico, IAMSA, and was co-founded by and invested in by Irelandia Aviation. Based in Monterrey Internati ...
all banned the handset.


Washing machines

On 4 November 2016, Samsung recalled 2.8 million top-load washing machines sold at home appliance stores between 2011 and 2016 because the machine's top could unexpectedly detach from the chassis during use due to excessive vibration.


Advertisements on smart televisions

In 2015, users on the website
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...
began reporting that some Samsung Smart TVs would display advertisements for
Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi wa ...
products during movies when viewed through the Plex application. Plex denied responsibility for the ads and Samsung told blog
Gigaom Gigaom is a technology focused analyst firm and media company. The company evolved from a blog which offered news, analysis, and opinions on startup companies, emerging technologies, and other technology related topics. It was started by Om Malik ...
that they were investigating the matter. In March 2016, soccer star Pelé filed a lawsuit against Samsung in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, seeking $30 million in damages, claiming violations under the
Lanham Act The Lanham (Trademark) Act (, codified at et seq. () is the primary federal trademark statute of law in the United States. The Act prohibits a number of activities, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising. ...
for false endorsement and a state law claim for violation of his right of publicity. The suit alleged that, at one point, Samsung and Pelé came close to entering into a licensing agreement for Pelé to appear in a Samsung advertising campaign; Samsung abruptly pulled out of the negotiations. The October 2015 Samsung ad in question included a partial face shot of a man who allegedly "very closely resembles" Pelé, and also a superimposed ultra-high-definition television screen next to the image of the man featuring a "modified bicycle or scissors-kick", perfected and famously used by Pelé. In December 2016, Samsung forced an update to their Smart TV line, which resulted in advertisements being displayed in menus on the updated devices.


Viral marketing

On 1 April 2013, several documents were shown on TaiwanSamsungLeaks.org saying that the advertising company OpenTide (Taiwan) and its parent company Samsung were hiring students to attack its competitors by spreading harmful comments and biased opinions/reviews about the products of other phone manufacturers, such as
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
and
HTC HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...
, in several famous forums and websites in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
to improve its brand image. Hacker "0xb", the uploader of the documents, said that they were intercepted from an email between OpenTide and Samsung. Four days later, the Taiwan division of Samsung Electronics made an announcement stating it would "stop all online marketing strategies which involves publishing and replying in online forums". It was widely reported by the Taiwanese media. Taiwan later fined Samsung Electronics for the smear campaign.


See also

*
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...


References


External links

*
Samsung Electronics Official Global Blog

Samsung Community Forum
{{Authority control South Korean companies established in 1969 1970s initial public offerings British Royal Warrant holders Companies based in Suwon Companies listed on the Korea Exchange Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange Computer peripheral companies Computer memory companies Computer storage companies Consumer electronics brands Display technology companies Electronics companies established in 1969 Foundry semiconductor companies Home appliance brands Home appliance manufacturers of South Korea Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning companies HSA Foundation founding members Mobile phone companies of South Korea Multinational companies headquartered in South Korea Netbook manufacturers Photography companies of South Korea Point of sale companies Portable audio player manufacturers
Electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
Semiconductor companies of South Korea South Korean brands Technology companies of South Korea Vacuum cleaner manufacturers Video equipment manufacturers Videotelephony