In the wake of an earnings shock in the second quarter, Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, is making all-out efforts to cut costs. “Samsung is tightening its belt as it is forecast to face tougher competition in the global smartphone market,” industry watchers said. The Korean firm’s operating profit plummeted 25 percent on-year to 7.2 trillion won in the April-June period, the lowest in two years, according to the Korean headquarters.One of the electronics giant’s latest

LG Uplus, a South Korean mobile carrier, said Thursday that it had finished developing telecommunication networks at base camps and offices of a local construction company carrying out projects in the Middle East.The company said it had established enterprise Internet lines for the builder’s camps in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Libya and Kuwait, marking the first time it has provided the service for a client in the region.It worked with Epsilon, a Hong Kong-based IT outsourcing company, to d

Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to launch a new wearable device early next month in Berlin that is able to make phone calls without being linked to a smartphone, industry sources said Thursday.The world’s No. 1 smartphone maker, which has recently been making moves to expand its presence in the wearable industry as a new source of revenue, will roll out the “Gear Solo,” which will be equipped with its own universal subscriber identity module card.The model is set to be showcased on Sept. 4 i

South Korea said Thursday it confirmed that Chinese authorities had intentionally blocked services of Kakao and LINE mobile messengers on fears of abuse by terrorist groups. Talks are underway to normalize the services, it said.“Some of the messenger services in China that spread information linked to terrorist activities were blocked (by the Chinese authority), including Kakao Talk and LINE,” the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said.“Many terrorist groups in China reportedly spread

Korean public research university KAIST said Wednesday that it would hold a cultural festival at its main campus in Daejeon with Asia’s top science universities until Aug. 9.The three-day event, called the ASPIRE League E-Olympics, will invite students from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, China’s Tsinghua University and Japan’s Tokyo Institute of Technology. ASPIRE stands for Asian Science and Technology Pioneering Institutes of R

South Korea’s exports of information-communication technology products rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier last month largely on growing shipments to advanced markets, including the United States, while the trade surplus in the sector narrowed, the government said Wednesday.In July, outbound shipments of ICT products came to $14.28 billion, posting an on-year gain for the second straight month, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.However, the country’s trade surplus in the s

Awaiting a major merger and market listing later this year, South Korea’s leading mobile messenger service provider Kakao Corp. has been trying to diversify its business portfolio as its conventional sources of profit weaken, and the rumor is that it is looking into the taxi business.“Although it is hard to reveal detailed businesses, we have established a task force to find new models for profits,” Kane Lee, a communications official from Kakao, said Tuesday over the phone.The goal, Lee said, i

 The Galaxy Note 3, the latest in Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note line-up, will be introduced on Sept. 3 in Germany, industry sources said Tuesday. According to the sources, the world's largest smartphone maker will showcase the new phablet -- a cross between a smartphone and tablet PC -- ahead of the IFA Berlin to be held Sept. 5-10.The Galaxy Note 4 is anticipated to feature a 5.7-inch-wide QHD with resolution of 2560×1440, along with a Snapdragon 805 processor and a 16 megapixel camera. The

Another worker from a Samsung Electronics Co. chipmaking facility died earlier this month from leukemia after working at the company for 27 years, a labor advocacy group said Tuesday, just days after compensation talks between the two sides for similar victims ended without much progress.The Protector of Health and Human Rights of Semiconductor Workers said Lee Beom-woo, 47, died a month after being hospitalized for leukemia. He worked for 23 years at Samsung's facility in Onyang, South Chungche

South Korea's top tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it plans to invest some 1.8 trillion won ($1.74 billion) this year to boost safety in its facilities across the country, following a series of accidents that led to deaths and injuries.This year's investment will mark a 50 percent rise from the 1.2 trillion won in 2013, the company said, adding it has already injected 1 trillion won through July, and the remaining budget will also be invested as scheduled."Most of the budget will

South Korea’s No. 2 handset maker, LG Electronics Inc., is anticipated to ship more than 60 million units of smartphones in 2014, analysts said Monday, backed by its robust sales of the G3 flagship model.“While the competition in the smartphone sector is set to escalate over the second half, the G3 model will continue to gain ground before the launch of the new iPhone,” Kiwoom Securities Co. said in its report, adding the local rival of Samsung Electronics Co. will post annual sales of 62 millio

KCC complies with broadcasters’ demand to support UHD content production