Samsung offers ‘Frozen 2’ edition of wind-free air conditioner

Samsung Electronics has adopted Elsa, the main character from Disney’s hit “Frozen” movies, as the exterior design of its flagship wind-free air conditioners, the company said Monday. The “Frozen 2” edition, only for the wall-mounted type, offers two exterior panels including the one with Elsa on it and the original version, allowing customers to change the panel design as they wish. The collaboration has been announced ahead of the Children’s Day holiday

April 27, 2020

S. Korea considers introducing faster coronavirus testing kit

South Korea's health authorities said Sunday they are considering introducing a coronavirus testing kit that could produce results in about one hour for emergency operations or women in labor. Jeong Eun-kyeong, head of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), told reporters that authorities are reviewing a plan to allow doctors to use the one-hour polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing kits in case of emergency. "We are considering applying the kits to emergency oper

April 26, 2020

SK hynix pledges support to contractors amid COVID-19

SK hynix pledged Friday it will support contractors by ensuring early payments to help minimize the negative impact of the novel coronavirus spread. The company unveiled its plan to utilize 130 billion won ($105 million) from its co-growth fund for those in financial difficulty in front of Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Joh Sung-wook who visited its corporate campus in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. SK hynix also highlighted that it is paying around 600 billion won to its contractors four t

April 24, 2020

LG to hold online phone launch event in May

LG Electronics said Friday it will hold an online launch event for its upcoming flagship Velvet smartphone on May 7. The South Korean tech giant released a video invitation on YouTube, which included the date, time and an online link. The 15-second clip highlighted the water drop design of the flagship model.  It shows water droplets in white, gray, green and red, to represent the product colors slated for the Velvet phone.  Putting much weight on the design factor, the phone l

April 24, 2020

Pay with your face: LG CNS unveils facial recognition payment system

LG CNS announced Thursday that the company has introduced a facial recognition payment system using cloud server and blockchain technology. The Korean company’s new payment system uses a kiosk equipped with artificial intelligence specialized in recognizing facial biometrics to identify customers. The payment system then proceeds with payments by accessing customers’ account data encrypted in the cloud server. The company said the AI-based payment system is much more convenient th

April 23, 2020

ICT Ministry hosts ‘untact’ IR for startups

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday held an online conference to match local information and communication technology startups with investors. The event, titled “Untact IR” in reference to the trend for non-face-to-face contact, is a weekly online conference that has been hosted by the ministry since April 9 and is designed to increase exchanges between investors and companies amid the viral outbreak. During the three-hour online conference, local firms promoted their busi

April 23, 2020

SK hynix reports earnings surprise amid high server demand

SK hynix, the second-largest memory chipmaker in the world, announced an earnings surprise Thursday, with a 239 percent on-quarter increase in its operating profit in the first quarter. Despite concerns about a coronavirus downturn in the global economy, the South Korean chipmaker posted 7.19 trillion won ($6.4 billion) in sales and 800.3 billion own in operating profit during the January to March period, according to its regulatory filing. Its net profit stood at 649.1 billion won. Compar

April 23, 2020

Everyday steps to stem COVID-19

South Korea is gearing up for an economic reopening with renewed guidance for physical distancing. The updated guidance, issued Wednesday, is meant to replace the stringent physical distancing implemented March 22 that is set to last until May 5. If the number of COVID-19 cases continues to stabilize, the country may switch over to an eased form of social distancing. The following steps are intended to limit the spread of the virus while at the same time allowing the resumption of normal acti

April 22, 2020

Phone makers turn to midrange phones amid pandemic

The world’s major smartphone makers -- US-based Apple and South Korea’s Samsung and LG -- are seeking to restructure their product lineups, shifting from premium flagship models to midrange phones this year, following the global novel coronavirus pandemic, according to industry sources Wednesday. The market for less expensive and high-spec phones is growing worldwide amid slowing demand for new gadgets triggered by the outbreak. Market researcher Counterpoint said in a recent re

April 22, 2020

COVID-19 could be systemic in newborn babies, says pediatrician

South Korea’s youngest patient, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 8 at just 27 days old, had higher viral loads for a longer period of time than her mother despite being exposed to an identical infection source at around the same time, medical staff said Tuesday. SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus responsible for COVID-19 -- was detected in all of the baby’s samples including blood, urine, stool and saliva, according to pediatrician Dr. Han Mi-seon of the Boramae Medical Center in sout

April 22, 2020

Electronics industry gearing up for surge in demand in post-coronavirus era

South Korea’s electronics industry is gearing up for a surge in demand in the post-coronavirus era, with some experts predicting it as early as the second half of this year, industry sources said Tuesday. Experts from the semiconductor, display, telecommunications and battery sectors gathered Tuesday at an event hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry to discuss how to prepare for a post-coronavirus market. Attendees agreed on the need for preemptive measures to respond

April 21, 2020

[News Focus] Telecom firms plan to commercialize millimeter-wave 5G network

Korea’s major telecom firms are gearing up to commercialize an ultrafast millimeter-wave 5G network this year, starting with the business-to-business sector, according to industry sources Monday. The next-generation 5G network uses mmWave technology to transmit large data packets at faster speeds. In theory, on the 28-gigahertz band the network speed could reach 20 gigabits per second. Samsung Electronics announced that it has tested a high-frequency 5G network station, confirming that

April 20, 2020

[Monitor] Global memory chip market

Robust growth expected for memory The global market for memory chips is forecast to grow continuously at least until 2022, according to data by IHS Markit. The market researcher’s recent report showed that the memory market would grow from $115.5 billion in 2019 to $125.9 billion this year, despite high uncertainty in the global economy triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak. The growth is expected to continue for the next two years, reaching $162.4 billion in market value by 2022. As of

April 20, 2020

[Chew on I.T.] Before buying earbuds, check out what’s inside

In tune with the extended use of smartphones and smartwatches, headphones have been going cordless, providing users with freedom and flexibility in daily activities. But some conservative consumers have shunned wireless earphones, as they tend to be wary of the battery lifespan and reluctant to learn how to connect the Bluetooth. But once you go cordless, it is hard to go back. Thanks to advancements in chip and battery technologies, these small earpieces are the epitome of cutting-edge aud

April 20, 2020

[Newsmaker] Not just lungs: Coronavirus can damage other organs

South Korea reported over the weekend the first case of a heart disease linked to novel coronavirus infection, suggesting the virus most commonly known to cause respiratory distress may have a wider spectrum of complications. In Daegu, Korea’s worst affected city with 64 percent of the total virus tally, a 21-year-old woman without preexisting medical conditions suffered an acute myocarditis from COVID-19. The young patient initially exhibited typical symptoms of the virus including a c

April 20, 2020

Global chip capex forecast to drop 3% this year

Capital spending by global chipmakers is expected to dip 3 percent on-year to $99 billion in 2020, with the industry remaining unscathed by the coronavirus outbreak so far, a market tracker said Friday. The expected decline comes after capital expenditures by Samsung Electronics Co. and other heavyweights fell 3 percent last year, the first on-year drop since 2015, according to IC Insights. Capex by three memory majors -- industry leader Samsung, No. 2 player SK hynix Inc. and US chipmaker Mi

April 17, 2020

Netflix sues SK Broadband, refuses to share internet network costs

Video streaming giant Netflix has sued local internet network operator SK Broadband, according to industry sources Tuesday. The Korean unit of the US-based firm has reportedly filed a civil suit at the Seoul Central District Court arguing that it is not liable to pay for using SK Broadband’s internet network or other maintenance or upgrade costs. The two companies have been clashing over the issue since last year, as the Korean provider asked the traffic-heavy streaming service to shar

April 14, 2020

LG Electronics names new smartphone ‘Velvet’

LG Electronics Inc. on Sunday unveiled the name of its new smartphone that is expected to be released in South Korea next month. LG said the upcoming mass-market premium smartphone has been named LG VELVET. The new name comes after the company recently revealed it will no longer use the G series brand. "LG VELVET will be the first device to implement the company's new branding strategy for its mobile devices, moving away from alphanumerical designations in favor of familiar and expressiv

April 12, 2020

LG Uplus joins hands with Japanese, Taiwanese firms on drone platform

LG Uplus Corp., a major South Korean mobile carrier, said Sunday it has joined hands with a Japanese telecommunication firm and a Taiwanese drone maker to develop smart drone solutions. Under a memorandum of understanding with Japan's KDDI Corp. and Taiwan's Coretronic Intelligent Robotics Corp. (CIRC), LG Uplus will cooperate in the development of a drone control platform. The system is designed to better transmit images or videos recorded by drones to control centers, via LTE or 5G telecomm

April 12, 2020

SK Innovation exec highlights safety as top corporate priority

Companies that fail to shift their paradigms in terms of safety will fall behind others in the long run, said an executive at SK Innovation, a leading oil refinery and battery maker in South Korea on Friday. Yoo Jae-young, head of safety, health and environment division at the company, said in an internal interview that SK Innovation has turned the latest coronavirus outbreak into an opportunity that has enhanced its workplace environment monitoring system. “The company has stepped up

April 10, 2020