LG AT RESORTS -- A family looks at the industry’s first wallpaper type LG Signature OLED TV W installed at the 6th-floor lobby of Banyan Tree Club & Spa Seoul in the central part of the city. LG said Wednesday it supplied the premium TV set to luxury resort hotels like Banyan Tree and South Cape Spa and Suite. (LG Electronics)

Heated competition is expected in the premium smartphone market in the second half of the year, as three new handsets are set for release starting from August. They are Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 8, Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone 8 and LG Electronics’ V30.  (Yonhap)The upcoming smartphones are predicted to have significant reductions in the bezels and adopt dual cameras following the latest consumer trend of preferring larger displays and wide-angle photos. According to a recent video lea

Global tech giants are set to engage in another round of competition in the second half of 2017 as major smartphone brands will release high-end models armed with top-notch technologies, industry watchers said Wednesday.Samsung Electronics Co., Apple Inc. and LG Electronics Inc. are expected to release the tentatively named Galaxy Note 8, iPhone 8 and V30, respectively, in the second half of this year, which are expected to come with smaller bezels and dual cameras. (Yonhap)Tech giants have been

South Korea's chipmakers are expanding their foundry businesses in line with rising global demand amid the fourth industrial revolution that centers on the information and communication technologies, industry watchers said Wednesday.The foundry business refers to making chip designs for other companies that do not have a semiconductor fabrication plant. (Yonhap)Last month, Samsung opened a new department under its chip division focusing on the foundry business, as part of its efforts to expand i

Social networking giant Facebook continues to be mired in controversy in South Korea after clashes with local users, telecom companies as well as the government over the nature of some of its business activities in the country.The US-based social networking company is set to face an investigation by the state-run Korea Communications Commission after a local consumer rights group claimed that Facebook violated the law by sending out fake notifications designed to lure users into downloading its

Initial talks about cutting the retail prices of smartphones and mobile bills are underway under the administration of Moon Jae-in, who pledged to make mobile costs more affordable, industry sources said Tuesday. LG Electronics said it had submitted its opinion to the Korea Communications Commission in late May on regulations for device makers and mobile carriers to help uncover illicit retail practices.  (Yonhap)“The company gave the opinion at the request of the KCC that is currently collectin

Samsung Electronics and Korea Electric Power Corp. will launch a pilot project for a joint business on the Internet of Things, the companies announced Monday. From next month, Kepco will apply an automatic energy management system to Samsung’s wind-free air conditioner and T9000 refrigerator, which will help cut energy use during peak periods.  A model stands next to the Samsung T9000 refrigerator and wind-free air conditioner at a Samsung store in Seoul. (Samsung Electronics)The Samsung air con

US technology giant IBM said Monday that it has developed a groundbreaking transistor manufacturing process for 5 nanometer (nm) semiconductor chips.In partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. and GlobalFoundries, IBM said it has created the breakthrough process to build the world's first chip that will pack 30 billion 5 nm switches. (Photo courtesy of IBM Corp.)The new chip, a follow-up to IBM's 7 nm chip developed in July 2015, will carry 30 billion transistors on a chip the size of a fingerna

LG Electronics Inc. said Sunday it will release a new smartphone with a 4,500 mAh battery this week, which would top all mobile phones in South Korea in terms of power capacity. The South Korean tech giant said the budget LG X500 will be available to users through the country's three mobile carriers starting Friday. A model poses with the LG X500 smartphone in this photo released by LG Electronics Inc. on June 4, 2017. (Yonhap)The company said the battery would allow users to play videos for 20

Samsung Electronics Co. accounted for 13 percent of the world's smartphone industry in terms of operating profit over the first quarter of 2017, data showed Sunday. According to the data compiled by Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics took up 12.9 percent of the combined operating profit posted by global players by posting US$1.57 billion in earnings over the January-March period, down 21.9 percent from a year earlier.  (Yonhap)Samsung's archrival Apple Inc., on the other hand, posted an ope

Startup Eyedea announced Tuesday that it will be releasing Pitta, a video recognition-based, automatic-tracking selfie drone, in the second half of 2017. The company’s CEO Jung Jong-chuck said, “Following the completion of the test product in June, we will conduct real-world tests and release the commercial version in the third or fourth quarter of this year.”Independently developed by Eyedea, Pitta is a drone that can automatically track a user or any other specified target while filming and/or

Mobile application security firm Lockin Company announced Tuesday that it will release an upgraded version of LIAPP, a mobile application security solution, in June. Designated this year as a member company of the K-ICT Born2Global Centre, an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Lockin Company is a startup that has been recognized for its excellent technology and high marketability. LIAPP is the company’s signature security solution brand.  A screenshot

Startup InfiniFlux announced Wednesday that it would release a multi-server-based Time Series DBMS in June. In 2015, InfiniFlux commercialized a single server-based Time Series DBMS, which it is currently supplying to security companies and state-owned railroad companies.　A Time Series DBMS is a database that is capable of storing and analyzing machine log data in real time. The Time Series has been designed so that entered data cannot be updated, thereby preventing data manipulation, falsificat

Nokia Korea chief says 5G, IoT will make Korea a safer country