In just one week, the world will witness how the fifth-generation telecommunications network will be realized across various industries and change individual users’ lives at the world’s biggest mobile industry show in Barcelona, Spain, according to industry sources Sunday. And South Korea’s three telecom giants will be taking center stage at Mobile World Congress 2019, which kicks off Feb. 25 for a four-day run, demonstrating their commercial 5G services they say will transcend time and space fo

Technology Feb. 17, 2019

After being defeated by Chinese rival Xiaomi in India, Samsung Electronics again was deprived of its No. 1 title in smartphone shipments to Thailand in the final quarter of last year, losing the top position to Chinese firm Oppo, a market researcher’s report showed Thursday. The South Korean tech giant sold over 1 million phones in the October to December period in Thailand, accounting for 21.1 percent of the second-largest market in Southeast Asia, according to Singapore-based tech industry tra

Technology Feb. 14, 2019

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won on Thursday hinted its semiconductor business could expand into the non-memory semiconductor market in order to diversify profits and raise future competitiveness in the fourth industrial revolution era. “We don’t yet have any set plan but we will have to do something this year,” said Chey in response to The Korea Herald’s question about SK hynix’s preparations for the system-on-chip market, in a similar move by Samsung Electronics.  SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won

Technology Feb. 14, 2019

In response to the state of the semiconductor market after the end of the super-cycle last year, South Korean chipmakers are refusing to restart the “game of chicken” of the 1990s, instead opting to prepare for another big leap, according to industry officials Wednesday. Concerns have been raised by some market watchers ahead of the completion of two NAND flash chip plants by Samsung Electronics this year that such aggressive preparation by the world’s biggest memory provider could further aggra

Technology Feb. 13, 2019

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of South Korea’s top conglomerate, Samsung Group, met recently in Abu Dhabi with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to discuss cooperation between Samsung and UAE companies, according to industry sources on Tuesday. The meeting between the Samsung heir and the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was held Monday, a day after World Government Summit 2019 kicked off in Dubai. Lee did not officially participate in the su

Technology Feb. 12, 2019

UK-based technology company Dyson spent over two years coming up with its latest lighting product, the Dyson Lightcycle Task. And this new development started from thinking about how a light contributes to users’ wellness. In an interview with The Korea Herald held after the company’s unveiling of its first lighting product in South Korea, Simon Cross, who led the design and development of Task Light together with Jake Dyson, explained the time and effort over 90 engineers at Dyson spent on maki

Technology Feb. 12, 2019

Persistent rumors have been circulating over South Korea’s leading display panel manufacturer pursuing a new investment in large quantum dot organic light-emitting diode panels. Samsung Display, however, has refused to confirm the speculation, seemingly cautious over potentially overstepping the business strategy of Samsung Electronics. The rumors spread from the financial market to the display industry on there being some concrete signs that Samsung Display could turn its eighth-generation liqu

Technology Feb. 11, 2019

BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund management company based in New York, has become the third-largest shareholder of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics, according to the industry Friday.The US fund operator reported in a regulatory filing that it had purchased an additional 0.04 percent stake or 2,108,161 shares, in Samsung on Jan. 28, raising its ownership from 4.99 percent to 5.03 percent, worth around 14 trillion won ($12 billion). With the purchase, BlackRock has become the third-l

Technology Feb. 8, 2019

Korean battery makers’ share of the global electric vehicle battery market shrank last year amid ongoing expansion by Chinese rivals, a report showed Friday. According to the report by SNE Research, Korea’s biggest battery manufacturer LG Chem’s market share for electric vehicle batteries declined from 8.5 percent in 2017 to 7.6 percent last year, staying in fourth place behind CATL, Panasonic and BYD. Despite seeing 46.8 percent on-year growth in total battery volume actually used by customers

Technology Feb. 8, 2019

LG Electronics announced Thursday its upcoming flagship smartphone G8 ThinQ model will adopt a three-dimensional sensor Time of Flight, known as ToF, to provide face identity authentication and a better front-facing camera quality. The ToF sensor will be supplied by German semiconductor solutions provider Infinion Technologies, the Korean tech giant said. Infinion, which posted sales of 9.7 trillion ($8.63 billion) won last year, is a leader in the sensor solutions market for digital security. T

Technology Feb. 7, 2019

Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, de facto chief of chip giant Samsung Electronics, spent the Lunar New Year holidays in China as part of efforts to seek new strategies in the company’s memory chip business for this year, according to the company on Wednesday. Lee left Seoul for Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province in central China on Monday, a day before China’s New Year Spring Festival began, to check on Samsung’s memory plants in the city. Samsung has been operating a NAND flash plant in Xian sinc

Technology Feb. 6, 2019

The so-called “super cycle” in the semiconductor market in the past two years helped Samsung Electronics seal a new record in annual operating profit for the entire 2018 for the second straight year. But it may not be easy for the tech mogul to make it three in a row because of worsening market conditions this year. In an earnings announcement on Thursday, Samsung said it posted 243.77 trillion won ($219 billion) in sales and 58.89 trillion won in operating profit last year, recording the highes

Technology Jan. 31, 2019

Lee In-hee, an adviser to Hansol Group and the eldest daughter of Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chull, died of an illness Wednesday. She was 90. Born in 1929, Lee was the eldest daughter of Lee Byung-chull, who has three sons and five daughters. Her younger brothers are Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, late CJ Group Honorary Chairman Lee Maeng-hee, who died in 2015, and late Saehan Media Chairman Lee Chang-hee, who died in 1991.  (Yonhap)Lee joined Hotel Shilla in 1979 as a permanent executive, w

Industry Jan. 30, 2019

SK Telecom’s navigation system T Map will run on vehicles of Singapore’s biggest car-sharing service provider Grab within the first quarter of the year, the South Korean mobile carrier said Wednesday. SKT and Grab have signed an agreement to set up the joint venture Grab Geo Holdings in Singapore, co-led by Grab’s service head Jerald Singh as chief executive officer and SKT’s navigation development chief Kim Jae-soon as chief technology officer. SKT CEO Park Jung-ho met with Grab co-founder and

Technology Jan. 30, 2019

Samsung Electronics appears to be expanding its mobile payment strategy to include blockchain technology as it reportedly is planning launch a crypto currency wallet system on the 10th anniversary phones of Galaxy S, according to industry sources Tuesday. Some leaks of alleged images of Galaxy S10 phones showed that the new gadgets offer Samsung Blockchain Keystore that is a crypto currency wallet application. Samsung had filed for related patents overseas last year.If the Galaxy S10 phones are

Technology Jan. 29, 2019