[Herald Interview] Korea’s top infectious disease expert calls COVID-19 ‘trickiest foe yet’

When it comes to epidemics, it’s hard to find someone with a bulkier resume. From severe acute respiratory syndrome to swine flu to Middle East respiratory syndrome, he was there at the front lines of each alarming outbreak that has surfaced in recent decades, either advising or spearheading South Korea’s response. Dr. Kim Woo-joo, the nation’s leading expert in infectious diseases, said the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has been his “trickiest foe yet.”

June 17, 2020

Samsung regains top spot in Southeast Asian smartphone market in Q1: report

Samsung Electronics Co. recaptured the top spot in the Southeast Asian smartphone market in the first quarter of the year by edging out its Chinese rivals, a report showed Wednesday. Samsung's market share in Southeast Asia stood at 18.9 percent in the January-March period, according to market tracker Counterpoint Research, outperforming Chinese phone maker Oppo by 0.2 percentage point. Chinese players also occupied the third to fifth spots on the list. Xiaomi came in third at 14.8 percent,

June 17, 2020

Local OTT giant Wavve sees drop in active users, Netflix soars: report

The number of monthly active users of local video streaming service giant Wavve declined over the past months, while that of Netflix soared to cement its top status, a report showed Thursday. Wavve, which was launched last September by South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. and terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS, had 3.46 million monthly active users last month, down 8.8 percent from 3.79 million in October 2019, according to market researcher Nielsen KoreanClick. Monthly act

June 17, 2020

Korea inspects quality of local 5G networks upon complaints

The South Korean government is carrying out a nationwide quality inspection of its 5G networks amid growing dissatisfaction among people using the service, which came out last year. According to an ICT Ministry announcement Tuesday, the government has started assessing 5G networks and service in the nation’s major cities -- Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju and Ulsan. The government has sampled around 100 locations in those cities, checking call quality and 5G network recept

June 16, 2020

[Gadget Review] Samsung’s Clean Station brings small but groundbreaking liberation

  Many readers must have mistakenly dropped the dustbin of a vacuum cleaner at least once while cleaning it out. Worse still, all the dust, hair and unknown particles that are stuck together have to be dug out manually so they can be thrown in the trash. While technology advances among vacuum cleaners have been pronounced in recent years under the lead of manufacturers like Dyson, my try at using Samsung Electronics’ Clean Station for Jet vacuum was extremely satisfying. While, ad

June 16, 2020

Chinese TV makers outstrip Korean firms in Q2: report

Chinese TV makers are set to outperform their South Korean rivals in the global TV market as they have shipped more products in the second quarter amid the COVID-19 impact, according to a market researcher Tuesday. According to UK-based market tracker Omdia, Chinese TV manufacturers are projected to have shipped out 15.14 million units from April to June, much higher than that of Korean tech firms Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. The domestic manufacturers here are estimated to have

June 16, 2020

Samsung head faces panel's decision on possible indictment next week

A civilian committee plans to issue a decision next week on whether Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung Group, should be indicted over his alleged involvement in a merger and accounting fraud, informed sources said Monday. The Supreme Prosecutors Office informed Samsung, South Korea's largest conglomerate, of the plan for the panel of outside experts to deliver its verdict on the matter next Friday. Lee earlier called for a public assessment of the validity of the way that state pros

June 15, 2020

Samsung unveils BTS edition of Galaxy S20 smartphones, earbuds

Samsung Electronics Co. on Monday unveiled a special edition of its Galaxy smartphones and earbuds in collaboration with K-pop sensation BTS. The South Korean tech giant introduced the BTS edition of the Galaxy S20 Plus 5G, S20 Plus and the Galaxy Buds Plus. The design of the Galaxy S20 Plus BTS edition highlights a purple glass and metal exterior. It also carries the boy band's logo and purple heart iconography on the back. The BTS edition of the Galaxy S20 Plus will be available in both

June 15, 2020

[Herald Interview] Startup mixes Korea’s strongest areas: math and tech

The day will soon come when artificial intelligence provides a full-length explanation for all math problems and even inspire the students to do better, at least according Lee Yong-jae and Lee Jong-heun, the founding CEOs of South Korea’s up-and-coming educational technology startup Mathpresso. Mathpresso is a startup that operates AI-powered edtech platform Qanda, through which the company raised a total of around 70 billion won of investment since its establishment five years ago. Mat

June 14, 2020

Robust demand likely to support Korean chipmakers through Q3

South Korean chipmakers are forecast to fare well through the third quarter of this year despite aggravating economic conditions amid the prolonging COVID-19 impact, owing to robust demand for memory chips upon the growing noncontact market, according to industry sources Sunday. The country’s semiconductor exports jumped 22.6 percent from June 1 to 10, compared to a year earlier, according to data by Korea Customs Service. In May, the total semiconductor exports rose 6.6 per

June 14, 2020

Samsung smartphones' average selling price highest in 6 years: report

Samsung Electronics Co. enjoyed the highest average selling price (ASP) of its smartphones in six years in the first quarter of the year, driven by robust demand for foldable phones and its flagship smartphones, industry data showed on Sunday. Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, sold its smartphones at $292 on average in the January-March period, up 8.5 percent from a year earlier. The first-quarter ASP also marks a 20.7 percent rise from three months earlier, according to data comp

June 14, 2020

ICT Ministry gives SK Telecom green light to terminate 2G service

The ICT Ministry of South Korea has approved SK Telecom’s request to end its 2G service, putting an end to the 25-year-old service that helped the country take the lead in the mobile phone industry. The ministry held a media briefing in Seoul on Friday, saying it had approved the termination of the 2G service, citing outdated servers and mechanical failures due to the lack of up-to-date equipment. Upon receiving the approval, SK Telecom said it would wrap up the service s

June 12, 2020

SKT to expand use of new quantum-powered security solutions

SK Telecom said Thursday it has signed deals with major tech firms to develop security products for self-driving vehicles, internet of things-devices and smartphones using its new quantum-powered security chipset. Names of the partners were not disclosed. Since 2018, SKT and Switzerland-based ID Quantique have been developing the quantum random number generator (QRNG) chipset for Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy A Quantum, together with fabless Korean company Btree, which specializes in des

June 11, 2020

Study finds risk factors of severe COVID-19

Certain markers may help predict a patient’s chance of developing a severe case of novel coronavirus disease at the point of hospital admission, according to a Korean study published last week. This is a first local study identifying risk factors for severe COVID-19 caused by the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. The findings were based on observations of 110 confirmed patients hospitalized between Feb. 19 and April 15 at Yeungnam University Medical Center in Daegu -- a city accounting for 57

June 10, 2020

Galaxy users vent over unwanted ads on default apps

Some Samsung Galaxy smartphone users have complained over the unwarranted banner advertisements on default applications like the weather app. Multiple complaints have been posted by users on the Samsung Members site, lamenting about the discomfort of being exposed to banner ads on the weather app in Samsung’s Android-run Galaxy phones. One screenshot posted by a user showed an image of a red pepper ad with the phrase: “Why hot weather brings appetite for sour and spicy food.&rdq

June 10, 2020

Mark Lippert appointed as YouTube’s Asia-Pacific policy chief

Mark Lippert, former US ambassador to South Korea, was appointed last month as YouTube Asia-Pacific’s public policy chief, Google said Tuesday. Google said Lippert would represent YouTube in the Asia-Pacific region, curate public policy strategy and coordinate communications with local governments, based on his knowledge of the region and years of experience in public policy. Lippert served as ambassador from 2014 to 2017. After surviving a knife attack in Seoul in 2015, he drew praise

June 9, 2020

Samsung likely to hold online ‘Unpacked’ event on Aug. 5

Samsung Electronics is highly likely to hold its annual “Unpacked” event for the Galaxy Note lineup online for the first time on Aug. 5 due to the prolonging COVID-19 impact, according to news reports Tuesday. The Galaxy Note Unpacked event is usually held in New York every August. At this year’s event, Samsung is expected to unveil four new gadgets: Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Fold 2, Galaxy Z Flip 5G and Galaxy Watch 3. The Galaxy Note 20 is forecast to be released in two ve

June 9, 2020

LG Uplus renews supply deals with local 5G equipment firms

LG Uplus announced Sunday that it has renewed its contracts with Ubiquoss and Dasan Network Solutions to supply 5G equipment. South Korea’s third-largest mobile carrier will purchase 271 billion won ($224 million) of 5G equipment by May 2023 -- revised from the initial 155 billion-won deal set to expire on November 2021. It will buy about 90 billion won of 5G equipment a year. LG Uplus said the this will increase supplies of equipment for its 10 Gigabits per second 5G network service.

June 7, 2020

[Chew on I.T.] What makes up smartphone prices?

It was three years ago that the psychological threshold for smartphone prices passed the $1,000 mark with the launch of Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone X, with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 following the next year. But more recently, phone manufacturers have suffered declines in demand for high-end phones costing over $1,000 as the global economy slowed. They consequently shifted their business focus to less premium or midrange phones. This year, the market has already seen multiple

June 7, 2020

FTC ends probe on ‘TV war’ between Samsung and LG

The Fair Trade Commission said Friday it has terminated an investigation into the battle between Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics over the technological competitiveness of their TVs. The antitrust agency said the two companies have decided to drop the case and pledged to refrain from negative marketing.  LG on Wednesday withdrew its complaint filed against Samsung in September, and Samsung followed suit on Thursday. Samsung declined to comment, but the two reportedly have reache

June 5, 2020