Samsung profits slow for second straight quarter.

Korean conglomerate Samsung reported a second straight quarter of falling operating profits. Operating profits fell 3.3% from this time last year. This was primarily due to sluggish high-end phone sales and increasing competition from Chinese handset makers. Financial experts also look to Samsung’s over-reliance on handset sales and are saying that the company should look for a different growth model.

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Samsung suspected leukemia cases to be addressed.

151 Samsung factory workers have been diagnosed with leukemia since starting work at Samsung Electronics in Korea. 58 of them have also died at a very young age. The high number of cases is very unusual and it’s surprising that accountability and liability have been swept under the rug. For years, Samsung has hushed the issue and denied any link between the hazardous chemicals at their plants and leukemia, refusing to make any apologies.

The Korea Times reports that on Monday, Samsung announced that they will soon take an official position on the issue. Many families have been suffering in their fight against the largest conglomerate in Korea. It’s nearly impossible to stand up against a bully who controls everything, especially what people can say about them publicly. Continue reading

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Samsung profits continue to fall.

Samsung’s over-reliance on mobile phone sales brings weak profits again this quarter. Profits fell 4.3% due to sluggish handset sales and a poor domestic launch for their S5 (and a gloomy forecast for the next quarter). Samsung gets 70% of their revenue from phone sales. This represents over 75% of the Samsung group’s profits.

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Samsung S3, S4, and Galaxy Note phones with defective batteries.

The local news outlets are having a field day covering the Samsung (out-of-warranty) “battery swelling” issue today. A quick search of 삼성 갤럭시 노트 배터리 (Samsung Galaxy Note battery) yields a ton of news stories. This is the third Samsung phone affected by battery swelling. Today, the Korean Consumer Agency announced that Samsung will replace Galaxy Note mobile phone batteries, free of charge. While the Note phones were made in 2011 and are now out of warranty, there’s no reason for a battery to fail so quickly- unless it has a quality defect. (Note: I still have a working iPad 1 and iPhone 3GS with good battery life more than four years after they launched.) They’ve pushed Samsung into admitting that the swelling of lithium-ion batteries in phones is not normal. Samsung Service had previously deceived people into think that this was a “natural phenomenon” of normal lithium-ion phone batteries nearing the end of their life cycle. They can’t use that excuse anymore. Continue reading

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China’s Lenovo a direct threat to Korean Android phones.

SmartphoneThe global Android phone market continues to bloat with Lenovo’s purchase of Motorola from Google. China’s Lenovo, is quickly becoming a direct competitor to LG and Samsung. With the purchase of Motorola mobile, Lenovo becomes the third largest global smartphone maker, pushing LG to fourth place.

Lenovo’s purchase of Motorola from Google set them back $2.91-billion. Seems that Google had purchased Motorola simply to retain their phone patents. Interesting timing as Google recently announced a cross-licensing agreement with Samsung for 10-years.

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