South Korea's science and technology capabilities ranked seventh among other major economies in 2018, a state-run think tank said Monday.The Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning said its evaluation was compared against one done on the 34 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development last year. (KISTEP)The evaluation was based on five categories: research environment, support from both the public and private sectors, quality of work carried out by scientists

KT is launching a mobile application that tracks fine dust levels over the Korean Peninsula, where worsening air quality in recent years has become a national emergency. The app, called Air Map Korea, allows users to access a real-time big data analysis of fine dust concentrations for a particular region, the South Korean telecom firm said Monday. (Yonhap)Other features include instant updates on dust warnings and daily activity recommendations based on dust levels -- such as whether it’s advisa

SK Telecom Co. said Monday it will unveil its media upscaling solution, based on its artificial intelligence (AI) technology, in Barcelona next week. South Korea's top mobile carrier said it will show off Supernova, which improves quality of image and sound source based on the AI's deep learning algorithms, at the upcoming MWC 2019. (Yonhap)The MWC is the world's largest mobile show and will run from Feb. 25-28 in the Mediterranean city.Supernova can analyze images from camera, media files and i

5G services to enable transcending of time and space, connecting industries and increasing user convenience

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. will release its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S10, on March 8 in the United States, its website said Friday. Samsung's US website opened a preorder page for the much-hyped premium phone ahead of an Unpacked event slated for Feb. 20 in San Francisco. (Yonhap)In the US, Samsung offered buyers up to US$550 off a Galaxy S10 in a trade-in program for previously released devices.The Galaxy S10 will hit the Korean market on March 8, while those who

After being defeated by Chinese rival Xiaomi in India, Samsung Electronics again was deprived of its No. 1 title in smartphone shipments to Thailand in the final quarter of last year, losing the top position to Chinese firm Oppo, a market researcher’s report showed Thursday. The South Korean tech giant sold over 1 million phones in the October to December period in Thailand, accounting for 21.1 percent of the second-largest market in Southeast Asia, according to Singapore-based tech industry tra

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won on Thursday hinted its semiconductor business could expand into the non-memory semiconductor market in order to diversify profits and raise future competitiveness in the fourth industrial revolution era. “We don’t yet have any set plan but we will have to do something this year,” said Chey in response to The Korea Herald’s question about SK hynix’s preparations for the system-on-chip market, in a similar move by Samsung Electronics.  SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won

Major chipmakers vow timing strategies to prevent oversupply

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of South Korea’s top conglomerate, Samsung Group, met recently in Abu Dhabi with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to discuss cooperation between Samsung and UAE companies, according to industry sources on Tuesday. The meeting between the Samsung heir and the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was held Monday, a day after World Government Summit 2019 kicked off in Dubai. Lee did not officially participate in the su

UK-based technology company Dyson spent over two years coming up with its latest lighting product, the Dyson Lightcycle Task. And this new development started from thinking about how a light contributes to users’ wellness. In an interview with The Korea Herald held after the company’s unveiling of its first lighting product in South Korea, Simon Cross, who led the design and development of Task Light together with Jake Dyson, explained the time and effort over 90 engineers at Dyson spent on maki

Persistent rumors have been circulating over South Korea’s leading display panel manufacturer pursuing a new investment in large quantum dot organic light-emitting diode panels. Samsung Display, however, has refused to confirm the speculation, seemingly cautious over potentially overstepping the business strategy of Samsung Electronics. The rumors spread from the financial market to the display industry on there being some concrete signs that Samsung Display could turn its eighth-generation liqu

BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund management company based in New York, has become the third-largest shareholder of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics, according to the industry Friday.The US fund operator reported in a regulatory filing that it had purchased an additional 0.04 percent stake or 2,108,161 shares, in Samsung on Jan. 28, raising its ownership from 4.99 percent to 5.03 percent, worth around 14 trillion won ($12 billion). With the purchase, BlackRock has become the third-l

Korean battery makers’ share of the global electric vehicle battery market shrank last year amid ongoing expansion by Chinese rivals, a report showed Friday. According to the report by SNE Research, Korea’s biggest battery manufacturer LG Chem’s market share for electric vehicle batteries declined from 8.5 percent in 2017 to 7.6 percent last year, staying in fourth place behind CATL, Panasonic and BYD. Despite seeing 46.8 percent on-year growth in total battery volume actually used by customers

LG Electronics announced Thursday its upcoming flagship smartphone G8 ThinQ model will adopt a three-dimensional sensor Time of Flight, known as ToF, to provide face identity authentication and a better front-facing camera quality. The ToF sensor will be supplied by German semiconductor solutions provider Infinion Technologies, the Korean tech giant said. Infinion, which posted sales of 9.7 trillion ($8.63 billion) won last year, is a leader in the sensor solutions market for digital security. T

The government plans to ease a rule on recharging credit at mobile payment platforms as it seeks to promote the financial technology sector, an official said Thursday. Currently, people in South Korea can recharge up to 2 million won ($1,782) at a mobile payment platform, such as Kakao Pay or Naver Pay, meaning they are unable to buy goods worth more than 2 million won through the one-click payment system.  (Yonhap)The decade-old regulation is aimed at protecting consumers in the case of bankrup