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Samsung has been the undisputed king of the US home appliance market for some time now and it’s a similar story in the first quarter of 2017. Market research firm TraQline found that Samsung had clinched the top spot from Whirlpool the US home appliance market. TraQline is out with a new report today which shows that Samsung retained its top spot in the US home appliance market in the first quarter of this year as well. Improved sales of fridges and washing machines have enabled the company to expand its market share to 19.2 percent of the entire market. This sales-based figure is up 4.5 percent points from the same time last year. Choi Ik-soo, an executive vice president at Samsung Electronics, said that the company’s FlexWash and FlexDry washing and drying system is gaining popularity in the country while its Family Hub refrigerators are also bringing in a lot of customers. Samsung has now been the leader in the US home appliance market for the fourth consecutive quarter ever s

Samsung Electronics received a restructuring proposal from US activist hedge fund and minority shareholder Elliott Associates which proposed that the company be split into two . It called for setting up an operational and holding company and listing the latter on external exchanges in order to significantly boost shareholder value. Samsung took its time to study the proposal in detail and at its annual shareholder meeting last month said that it was not going to adopt a holding company structure for now . However, at that time, it didn’t completely rule out the possibility. It has done that today, though. Samsung has said that the company’s Board of Directors has decided not to convert to a holding company structure. A comprehensive review conducted with external advisors has revealed that a holding company structure will not strengthen the competitiveness of Samsung’s business and may potentially weigh on its operations in the long-term. The review also highlighted some issues tha

As the name suggests, treasury shares are those that a company keeps in its own treasury. It either comes from a repurchase or buyback from shareholders or it may be stock that was never issued. Samsung Electronics today announced that the company’s Board of Directors has approved a plan to cancel all existing treasury shares held by the company. At present value, the treasury shares held by Samsung Electronics are worth almost $43 billion. The treasury stock was retained by the company to use as a financial resource for merger and acquisition transactions as well as for securing talented professionals. However, it feels that the strong balance sheet and increase in cash holdings of the company have reduced the need to hold treasury shares. To limit the impact on the financial market as the value of these shares exceeds $40 billion, Samsung is going to cancel them in two stages. The first stage will see the cancellation of 50 percent of the holding which is about 9 million common an

Samsung posted its Q1 2017 earnings today and it’s evident that the Galaxy Note 7′s demise contributed to the decline in revenue from the mobile business as Samsung didn’t have a new flagship smartphone on the market. It’s now planning to turn things around by maximizing sales of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ while also confirming that another flagship smartphone is due in the second half of this year. Samsung normally launches a new Galaxy Note flagship in the second half of the year, that’s what it has been doing for the past few years. However, there was some speculation last year that perhaps it might ditch the Galaxy Note lineup altogether . That might not be the case, though, given that Samsung has previously said that the Galaxy Note lineup isn’t going anywhere and that a new handset will be launched in 2017 . The fact that it has reiterated the launch of a second flagship in the earnings release goes to show that Samsung is surely going to go ahead with it. Whether or not

Samsung shared its earnings guidance for the first quarter of 2017 last month. It expected the operating profit to come in at 10.1 trillion won or $9 billion. The company today reported its Q1 2017 earnings and hasn’t strayed too far from its guidance. Samsung brought in an operating profit of 9.9 trillion won or $8.7 billion. This makes Q1 2017 Samsung’s second-best quarter ever and also represents the highest-ever operating profit for the January to March period. Overall revenue came in at 50.55 trillion won or $44.7 billion. The company points out that revenue from its mobile business fell during the quarter due to a decline in flagship product sales. However, its quarter was salvaged by increased sales for the memory and display businesses. Profits were driven by the semiconductor and display panel segments. Samsung mentions in the earnings release that even though smartphone and tablet demand saw a slight decrease quarter-over-quarter, smartphone shipments actually increased

Samsung Electronics announced today the Company’s Board of Directors approved plans to cancel the existing treasury shares held by the Company.   The strong balance sheet and the increase in cash holdings of the Company have reduced the need to hold treasury shares, which the Company had retained to use as a financial resource, including for M&A transactions and securing talented professionals.   More importantly, today’s decision reflects Samsung’s ongoing commitment to enhancing sustainable long-term value for shareholders.   As the current market value of the treasury shares exceeds 40 trillion won, the Company plans to cancel the shares in two stages to limit the impact on the financial market. The first stage will cancel 50 percent of the holding, or about 9 million common shares and about 1.6 million preferred shares, and the remainder will be canceled after the Board’s approval in 2018.   The Company currently holds 17,981,686 of common shares (12.9 percent of outsta

Samsung Electronics announced today the result of its review regarding the optimal corporate structure of the Company. After conducting a comprehensive review with external advisors, the Company’s Board of Directors has decided not to convert to a holding company structure.   The review found that a holding company structure would not strengthen the competitiveness of the Company’s businesses and could potentially weigh on the Company’s operations longer term.   The review also found a number of issues that may result from the process of converting into a holding company.   First, creating a holding company would require divestments of equity stakes held by the Company and its affiliates. This would need the approval of the board of directors and the shareholders of each of the relevant companies and therefore cannot be implemented by the Company alone.   In addition, current laws could force the Company’s financial affiliates which own shares in the Company to divest part o

Progress of Shares Buyback On April 27, 2017, Samsung Electronics Board of Directors (BOD) approved the second phase of the share buyback and cancellation.   It will start on April 28, 2017 and take approximately three months to complete, in which the company will repurchase and cancel 900,000 (nine hundred thousand) common shares and 225,000 (two hundred and twenty-five thousand) preferred shares.   Samsung announced in January’s Q4 2016 earnings release that it would implement a share buyback of KRW 9.3 trillion won in 2017.   The first phase was completed on April 12, 2017. Samsung invested approximately KRW 2.45 trillion and it repurchased and cancelled 1.02 million common shares and 255,000 preferred shares.     Quarterly Dividends The BOD also approved the first quarter dividend of 7,000 won per share for both common and preferred. The quarterly dividend payment will enable Samsung to provide more evenly distributed dividends to our shareholders throughout the year.

Samsung Electronics today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017. Samsung’s revenue for the quarter was KRW 50.55 trillion, an increase of KRW 0.77 trillion YoY, while operating profit for the quarter was KRW 9.90 trillion, an increase of KRW 3.22 trillion YoY.   In the first quarter, sales for the memory and display businesses increased, owing to high ASPs and strong sales of premium products. However, revenue from the mobile business decreased due to a decline in flagship product sales.   Profits were driven by the components businesses, namely the semiconductor division and the display panel segment.   The memory business posted significant earnings growth, both YoY and QoQ, led by favorable supply-demand conditions and sales growth of premium high-density enterprise SSDs. The System LSI business improved its earnings on the back of increased sales of application processors for flagship smartphones and greater demand for image sensors and displa

Welcome to the latest edition of  Wallpaper Wednesday . This week we’re focusing our attention on five illustrated backgrounds. All of the images are available in a suitable resolution for the  Galaxy S8 ,  Galaxy S8+  and just about any other smartphone (or even tablet) on the market. If any of the following images float your boat and you want to download and set one as your wallpaper, simply tap on a photo to maximise it, then click and hold to save it. Once the picture is stored locally, open up  Settings , locate and select  Wallpaper , then press the image to set it as your background. Alternatively, you can download a ZIP file containing all of this week’s backdrops by hitting the  Download  button at the very bottom of this post. Animals Bear Lake Thieves Town Download Note:  We’ve tried our best to identify the creators of all of the wallpapers featured in this week’s column. However, the images appear to lack copyright information, artist signatures or any

We publish  a lot  of stories on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the majority of news breaks during our European hours of operation, which makes it difficult for our readers in the US (and other regions) to keep up. However, we think we’ve come up with a fantastic solution — a  daily recap . Here’s what we covered today. Deals Daily Deal: Pick up a Gear S3 frontier for 15% off Firmware News Galaxy J7 (2016) receives April security patch in Europe General Samsung may unveil new MRAM memory for mobile devices next month Laptops Google confirms which Samsung Chrome OS devices will get Android apps Phones Refurbished Galaxy Note 7 to go on sale at the end of June The Galaxy S8′s home button won’t burn-in [Video] This is how Samsung tests the Galaxy S8 to ensure quality and safety PSA: Galaxy S8′s messages app shows web link previews Tips & Tricks Galaxy S8 Tip: Here’s how to enable image stabilization for smoother 4K videos Galaxy S8 Tip: How to activate Bluetooth Dual A

The Galaxy S8 was the first smartphone on the market to ship with Bluetooth 5.0, which not only offers improvements to audio, speed and range, but also provides users with the facility to simultaneously stream audio to two sets of wireless headphones or speakers, while letting them to control the volume of the outputs individually. Here’s how: Step 1:  Navigate into  Settings and select  Connections . Step 2:  Turn on Bluetooth. Step 3:  Press the three dots in the upper-right corner. Step 4:  Tap  Dual Audio,  then activate it. Now all you need to do is pair two sets of Bluetooth headphones (or speakers) to your smartphone, select them from this screen and you’ll be good to go. It’s really that simple. As always, if you happen to find yourself in a spot of bother, let us know in the comments section below and we’ll do our best to get you back on track. Otherwise,  be sure to check out our other  Galaxy S8 tips and tricks .

The Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ feature a newer user interface with dozens of new features, and some of them are easier to overlook. One such new feature is the ability to show web link previews in the messages app. Similar to WhatsApp, iMessage, and a few other instant messaging apps, Galaxy S8′s new messages app shows a web link preview whenever someone sends you a URL, which makes it easier for you to know what that link is about. You can disable this feature, if you don’t want it, from the settings menu of the messages app.

If you’re in the market for a new smartwatch, you’ve come to the right place. While stock lasts, you can pick up the ruggedized variant of Samsung’s latest smartwatch, the Gear S3 frontier, from Amazon for $299. (15% off). We reviewed this model of the device back in January, and came to the conclusion that it’s a great offering for both entry-level and die-hard wearable owners. Like the sound of the Gear S3 frontier  and want to take advantage of this promotion? Press the Buy Now button below. We advise you to hurry, though, as Amazon only has a limited amount of inventory available.We should note, however, that the merchant isn’t offering international shipping, which sadly means that this saving is only available for customers in the United States.

The Galaxy Note 7 turned out to be a massive failure. Even though it was a great device, it was a safety hazard due to faulty batteries. The company had to recall all the Galaxy Note 7 units it shipped worldwide , and apologize its customers. Samsung not only suffered an enormous financial loss due to this recall but also to endured its worst branding nightmare ever. Airlines reminded travelers for months that the Galaxy Note 7 was a safety threat, and it could catch fire at any moment. Samsung clearly doesn’t want to go through the same painful situation once again, so it created a new 8-point battery safety check three months ago for improved product quality and safety. The newly released Galaxy S8 and S8+ pass through the same procedure, and the company says that it is doing everything it can to ensure highest product quality and safety. The devices go through massive charge and discharge tests, and the company is even inspecting battery suppliers for quality assurance. The c

Samsung and IBM announced back in July last year that they had developed a new process to manufacture a non-volatile RAM which is up to 100,000 times faster than NAND flash and never wears out. They called it magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) which will be produced using the spin-transfer torque (STT) technology. This will allow the companies to create low-capacity memory chips for mobile devices, wearables and Internet of Things devices that currently rely on NAND flash memory to store data. Spin-torque MRAM can be utilized in ultra-low power applications in which it will use very low power when on and storing information. It won’t use any power when it’s not actively being used as it won’t be volatile. According to a new report, Samsung is going to unveil the MRAM at its Foundry Forum Event which is going to take place on May 24. The company is expected to detail its process technology for MRAM at this event. The company’s LSI Business Department has reportedly worked up a prototype o

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ feature a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera with Dual Pixel phase-detection autofocus, OIS, and 4K video recording. These features might seem similar to that of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge , but they come with slightly upgraded sensors and a brand new 10nm octa-core processor . This gives Samsung more headroom for things like Multi Frame Processing and electronic image stabilization, which result in improved image and video quality. If you didn’t know already, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ can record optically and electronically stabilized 4K videos, something that wasn’t possible on the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge. EIS produces smoother videos, but for some reason, these smartphones are pre-configured by Samsung to record videos at just 1080p resolution. You can change that, of course. So, here’s how you can activate electronic image stabilization in the camera app on your Galaxy S8 or S8+: Step 1: Open the camera app and hit the Settings icon on the top right c

It has been a few months since Google confirmed that it was bringing Android apps to Chrome OS. However, it didn’t exactly reveal the names of all Chrome OS devices that will be receiving support for the Play Store. It listed only three devices initially and not one was from Samsung. The company has now updated the list of Chrome OS devices that are soon going to receive Play Store support. The list also provides status updates on how soon the device will receive an update which brings support for Android apps. The list reveals that Android app support is in the Stable Channel for only one Samsung device, the Chromebook Plus , while it’s still in the Planned stage for the Chromebook Pro , Chromebook 2 11″ – XE500C12 and Chromebook 3 . It’s unclear right now how much time it will take for Play Store support for these devices to enter the Stable Channel. Google is yet to confirm when it’s going to release support for these devices but it’s likely going to take place at some point lat