Chief Apple rival Samsung Electronics on Monday announced plans to buy Harman International Industries for $8 billion, in a move that could signal its intention to compete against Apple and Google in smartcar technology.
South Korean prosecutors raided the headquarters of Apple rival Samsung on Tuesday, looking for evidence that the company might have illegally offered gifts to Choi Soon-sil, a woman accused of exploiting her connections to President Park Geun-hye.
Attempting to put the Galaxy Note 7 debacle behind it, Samsung has paid for a full-page apology to consumers that appeared on Tuesday in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.
Samsung on Monday confirmed plans to include a new AI assistant with its upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone, which should make use of the technology it acquired from Viv — a firm founded by some of the people behind Apple's Siri.
Even with iPad shipments and the market as a whole shrinking year-over-year, Apple still managed to grow its share of the tablet industry in the September quarter, according to research data published on Monday.
Leaning on an expansive lineup of affordable Android handsets, Samsung retained its spot as the world's top smartphone vendor for the third quarter of 2016, according to research firm IDC. However, premium phone makers — Apple and Samsung included — are being squeezed from the bottom, as manufacturers of cheaper Android alternatives gained ground.
As expected, the Galaxy Note 7 disaster set fire to Samsung's operating profits in the September quarter, with the company's mobile unit posting a 96 percent decline to 100 billion Korean won (about $87.9 million) as compared to the same time last year.
As part of the continuing Galaxy Note 7 fire debacle, Samsung is not only offering financial incentives for customers to trade their problematic phone for a Galaxy S 7 phone and stay in the Samsung ecosystem in the face of pressure from the iPhone 7, but it is also saying that customers in the country will be able to exchange a Galaxy S 7 for the forthcoming Galaxy Note 8 for half the normal price.
Samsung is set to face multiple South Korean lawsuits over the Galaxy Note 7, amid reports that it's still looking to track down the cause of battery fires, and offering Koreans discounted upgrades to next year's flagship phones — including the Note 8.
In terms of customer satisfaction Apple is the most popular smartphone brand among U.S. carrier subscribers, according to two new J.D. Power studies, though that position isn't absolute.
Samsung is now running exchange stations at airports around the world, hoping to catch any lingering Galaxy Note 7 owners before they get onboard a plane with the phone — something that's now prohibited or outright illegal in some instances.
On Friday several U.S. safety agencies banned the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 from flights, all but killing the usefulness of the smartphone for the few people willing to hold onto it in spite of fire risks.
As a result of having to recall and eventually kill off the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung on Friday predicted a further $3 billion reduction in operating profits through March 2017, beyond the $2.3 billion it already announced.
Looking to soften some of the damage to its brand, Samsung is extending an extra $100 in credit to U.S. Galaxy Note 7 owners willing to exchange the phone for another Samsung device.
The Galaxy Note 7 botched recall was apparently induced as a result of corporate secrecy plus a lack of communication between test engineers — and the company still can't reproduce the fires in the testing labs.
Samsung Electronics on Wednesday cut its third-quarter operating profit estimates by $2.3 billion, suggesting the amount of damage done by ending production of the Galaxy Note 7.
New supply chain reports suggest that the global smartphone market will expand 7 percent in both 2016 and 2017, with Apple both the only US-based company on the list, and closing the gap with Samsung.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday published a transcript of the day's initial oral hearing of the high-stakes patent battle between Apple and Samsung, highlighting the complexities that face justices on how to properly adjudicate the case.
In hearing oral arguments from Apple and Samsung, justices for the U.S. Supreme Court hinted at some willingness to consider Samsung's position as it fights for reduced damages in a case over infringed iPhone design patents.
While investment firm Wells Fargo Securities believes Apple and its newly released iPhone 7 Plus will benefit from the discontinuation of the dangerous Galaxy Note 7, it also believes that the greatest potential for gains could be non-Samsung Android handsets.
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Roger Fingas
Mike Wuerthele
Mikey Campbell
Neil Hughes
