Samsung profits drop as the company faces fierce competition in both low and high end markets

Things are not happy and beautiful any longer for Samsung, the world’s number one smartphones manufacturer. As reported by Bloomberg, the Korean giant has posted its slowest growth since 2011.

Who’s to blame for the slow growth pace? For one, there is Lenovo, Huawei and other makers of cheap smartphones who’ve been flooding the markets in many areas, especially in Asia, a strong ground for Samsung. Apple is also partly responsible from Samsung’s decline as the fruity company has been luring high-end customers away from the Galaxy line maker…

The news will probably feel like a bucket of cold water thrown on the Korean company which has been riding high on its status of number one for a while. Sometimes, being number one doesn’t really matter if you can’t keep these profit margins high, and that’s exactly what Samsung is realizing right now.

According to Bloomberg:

Fourth-quarter operating income at Samsung’s mobile unit, the company’s biggest profit driver, was 5.47 trillion won, little changed from a year earlier and down from a record 6.7 trillion-won profit in the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company said.

The company said it “planned to lower its mobile marketing spend this year relative to revenue, after big promotional spending hit fourth-quarter profit,” reports Reuters. Maybe it’s a not a bad thing?

On the other side, Apple is expected to have shipped a record 55 million iPhones during last quarter. We’ll get confirmation next week as the company will report its Q1 financials.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom pictured in an official photo

It is no secret now that Samsung still has at least one more smartphone device to add to its ever growing Galaxy S4 range, and now what looks like to the Galaxy S4 Zoom has leaked in some images with the device having a point and shoot camera resemblance.

Talk of the company releasing its first camera phone first emerged at the beginning of last month and comes after we have already seen the Galaxy S4 Mini and Galaxy S4 Active. Now the images that you can see on this page are claimed to be of the Galaxy S4 Zoom and come from two different sources.

It is being claimed that the actual camera part of the device will pack a 16-megapxiel sensor, and from the images it seems this part of the device does stick out quite a bit. While there is no guarantees this is the real deal the other image you can see on this page is from Techtasticwho have some slightly clearer images of the alleged device instead of renders.

There is a good chance that Samsung will officially announce the device in the coming days leading up to its special press event it has pencilled in for June 20th. It won’t be until then will we hear more solid news on release dates and pricing for the new Galaxy S4 line up.

Internal memory is suggested to be 8GB, and is going to be expandable with up to 64GB microSD card. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 LE and GPS.

The right side of the device houses the lock/unlock button, volume rocker and shutter button.

Galaxy S3 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update in video with new features!

While there is now a new model available the Samsung Galaxy S3 remains extremely popular around the world and in a few weeks time it should be treated to some nice new features via the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update, which has now been leaked and shown off in a demo video.

There are already a variety of custom ROMs available for the Galaxy S3 that allows owners of the device to get an early chance to use the later firmware, as officially the handset is currently on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

Now the guys over at SamMobile has given owners of the handset a sneak preview in what the new firmware will bring to the handset once released officially via a video you can see below. The official software is still being tested by Samsung with a release expected sometime next month, and it’s not known if the 4.2.2 update will bring the Galaxy S4 camera features to the device or if owners will have to wait for 4.3 Android.

Some of the new features coming to the device with the 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update include the new S4 lockscreen, ability to change clock size, new screen modes from the S4, Daydream, Driving mode, more options in Notification Center, Full screen Samsung apps, new Galaxy S4 voice controls, and much more.

There is also the opportunity for owners of the handset to flash a version of this software to their Galaxy S3, but it is only done at your own risk and is available via SamMobile. Most users will be waiting until the official software is rolled out though, although as we always see with Android updates its availability will be dependent on individual carriers.

Once Samsung does release the firmware officially you can be sure we will be bringing the news as we upgrade our own unlocked version of the device.

Samsung beats Chromebook Pixel and Retina MacBook with new high-res laptop display

Samsung is to unveil a new super-high resolution panel which could set the standard for notebook displays. This week, the company will launch a 13.3-inch QHD 3200 x 1800 panel with 276 pixels-per-inch (PPI), and offers greater pixel densities than Apple’s Retina MacBook Pro 13 (227 PPI) and Google’s Chromebook Pixel (239 PPI).

Just last week, Sharp announced it would begin manufacturing its new high-pixel density IGZO LCD panels in 11.6-inch, 14-inch, and 15.6-inch variants. Samsung says the display will provide 30 percent greater power-savings than existing LCD displays but has yet to confirm if the panel will come to new ultrabooks. If it does, Toshiba’s 13.3-inch Kirabook— with its impressive 2560 x 1440 display — could have some high-resolution competition in the near future.

New Samsung Galaxy S III ads highlight music, games and…sex tapes?

I can’t remember that last time someone NFC made look this sexy. A new commercial for Samsung’s Galaxy S III shows a wife using the handset’s S Beam feature to send a private video to her husband as he’s leaving on a trip.

In “Work Trip”, a mother transfers to her husband a video that their daughters made for him to watch on the airplane, before beaming a second one that she made herself.

“You probably shouldn’t watch it on the plane,” she says.

Not surprisingly, some YouTube commenters are calling for Samsung to upload the wife’s video.

Keeping with the romance theme, another ad from Samsung shows a man embarrassing himself in front of his date by playing the Spice Girls on the stereo via his Galaxy S III. The woman makes up for it by beaming him some real mood music.

And finally, in “Game On”, two friends are playing against each other at the bus stop. The guy is using what appears to be an iPhone and the gal is on the Galaxy S III.

“How am I supposed to win? Your screen is like as big as my phone,” he says when he loses.

All three of the ads end with Samsung’s tagline “The Next Big Thing is Here.” With these three ads, Samsung’s still having some fun, but it’s less smug than the line-waiting commercials that it has been running before new releases of the iPhone.

Meanwhile, Apple has released its own flurry of ads for its new and upcoming products and Microsoft has even gotten into the game with its own spots for the Surface. Winter is coming, so game on.

Samsung Might Announce Galaxy S III Mini on Oct. 11

 

Samsung has sent out invitations for an Oct. 11 event, and some outlets are speculating that the company plans to launch a smaller version of Galaxy S III.

The event invitation, received by Mobi Flip, does not reveal what exactly the event is about, but it has the tagline (in German) “So big can be small. And so small can be big.”

The background of the invite also sports the big “S” logo, which is another clue that the invite is related to the Samsung’s Galaxy S line.

A smaller version of the Galaxy S III sounds like a very interesting proposition. While very powerful, the original Samsung Galaxy S III is a huge, 4.8-inch device, and it simply doesn’t fit well in everyone’s hands or pockets. A “mini” version packing the same (or similar) power as its larger brother might be a good, even more direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone 5.

Meanwhile, Apple is said to be planning its iPad Mini announcement on Oct. 17 — six days after Samsung’s rumored event.