Founded in 1938, Samsung is the largest chaebol in South Korea. The myriad of companies under its brand are some of the biggest in their respective industries, but Samsung Electronics is the most notable. It makes some of the most popular phones in use today, and its flagship portfolio includes the Galaxy S-series and foldable Z-series devices. It also makes televisions, tablets, computers, headphones, and many of the displays, chips, and batteries found in devices from Apple, Sony, and others.
Its newest home appliances come with an AI-powered touchscreen built in. Is that a good thing?
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra, and new AI features. It also teased the Galaxy S25 Edge, its rumored ‘slim’ phone.
The upcoming thin phone was included on a list of models eligible for a discount on Samsung Canada’s French site according to WinFuture journalist Roland Quandt. The CAD$1,678.99 price sits right in between the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra, which suggests it’ll cost $1,100-1,200 in the US.
Now, people who own a 2025 Neo QLED 8K, 4K, or QLED TV can choose from hundreds of pieces of artwork to display when they’re not watching shows or movies. The Art Store originally launched with Samsung’s Frame TV in 2017, and costs $4.99 per month or $49.90 per year to access.
That’s what the company told Ars Technica when asked about the current pause to the much-delayed update, which brings Android 15 to the Galaxy S24 series and other devices from 2024 and earlier. It was halted following reports of a bug that stopped people unlocking their phones. There’s no word on when the company will resume the rollout.
“The One UI 7 rollout schedule is being updated to ensure the best possible experience. The new timing and availability will be shared shortly.”
[arstechnica.com]
0Samsung’s Android 15 update is landing on phones in the US today, a mere seven months after Google released the OS update to developers, though it’s been available on the S25 phones since they launched in February.
Only Galaxy S24 models, along with the Fold 6 and Flip 6 foldables, are due to get the update today, though it will roll out to more Galaxy phones and tablets in the future.
Retailers already spilled the numbers late last month, but Samsung has now officially launched preorders for its Odyssey 3D ($1,999.99), OLED G81SF ($1,299.99), and Odyssey G91F ($999.99). I’m already looking forward to reviews of the G81SF. A 27-inch 4K 240Hz OLED with Samsung’s Glare Free display treatment sounds awfully nice.
Customers who preorder a monitor will receive “up to” $300 in Samsung credit.
The company’s early data suggests a “much smaller-than-feared 0.2 percent fall in first-quarter operating profit,” according to Reuters, likely driven by the stockpiling of memory chips by manufacturers ahead of Trump’s tariffs, with a related uptick in Galaxy S25 sales driven by panicked buyers in the US. Regardless, the quarter ahead looks grim so a reversal of Samsung’s dilemma is unlikely.
Owners of older Samsung TVs, even 2024 flagships, will have to wait to experience Netflix in HDR10 Plus for improved tone and brightness levels. According to Samsung:
HDR10+ content on Netflix will be accessible on 2025 Samsung Neo QLED, OLED and Lifestyle TVs — as well as 2025 and 2024 monitor models — with support for additional models in the future.
Hopefully “the future” isn’t too far away.
Samsung has temporarily shuffled its leadership team following the death of co-CEO Jong-Hee Han, while it hunts for a long-term replacement. TM Roh, who’s headed up the company’s Mobile Experience (MX) division since 2020, becomes acting head of Device Experience (DX), which covers mobile but also TVs, home appliances, and more.
Roh has overseen a period in which Samsung has lost mobile marketshare and produced increasingly iterative devices, so his promotion may not prove popular.
[news.samsung.com]
Samsung TV owners belting out their favorite tunes using the Stingray Karaoke app can now reach for their smartphones to level up their performance. The Samsung SmartThings app can turn smartphones — including Samsung Galaxy S22, S23, S2, and S25 models and the iPhone 15 and 16 — into a wireless microphone.
TVs supporting the Mobile Microphone feature include certain 2025 Samsung smart TV models like the Neo QLED and The Frame.
Correction, April 2nd: An earlier version of this article misstated that the Stingray Karaoke app turns smartphones into microphones. It is the Samsung SmartThings mobile app.
Excellent rant from Jeff Geerling about lazy — or worse, exploitative — home appliance companies that insist on cloud connections to enable basic features. And it’s only getting worse with initiatives like “Screens Everywhere” from companies like Samsung and LG.
This trend away from physical buttons introduces privacy and security concerns, the prospect of costly repairs, and the perfect foundation for advertisements and subscriptions — maybe not now, but certainly when profits are threatened by, oh, I don’t know... global trade wars.
Reuters, Chosun Biz, and other outlets report that Samsung confirmed the executive died on Tuesday in Seoul after suffering a heart attack over the weekend.
Jong-Hee (JH) Han, who had been scheduled to give a keynote speech at Samsung’s Bespoke AI event later this week, was named co-CEO at the end of 2021, overseeing its consumer electronics and mobile devices division. Han joined Samsung’s TV development team in 1988, eventually leading it as the world’s number one TV brand for 19 consecutive years, reports Yonhap.
On Monday, Samsung family scion and chair Lee Jae-yong (aka, Jay Y. Lee) said the company is facing “a do-or-die survival issue.” Today its executive leadership doubled-down on promises to better compete globally at its annual meeting. These five charts compiled by the Financial Times explain the urgency:
That’s a quote from Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong (aka, Jay Y. Lee), delivered in a message sent to a few thousand executives undergoing education seminars, according to Yonhap’s sources. Last year, it was reported that Samsung shifted executives to a six-day workweek to “inject a sense of crisis” after falling behind in AI semiconductors. More recently, TVs, smartphones, and lucrative DRAM sales have also seen declining market shares.
The company is planning to offer Galaxy Store developers an 80 / 20 revenue share on games beginning May 15th. Currently, it’s 70 / 30. According to Seline Sangsook Han, Samsung EVP of Mobile Service Business:
“The new 80/20 revenue share model will apply to all paid games, apps and in-app purchases generated and received through Galaxy Store. For subscription services and in-app purchases made through these services, the revenue share model will be 85/15.”
