Samsung devices under investigation by US ITC after Nvidia’s patent infringement claim

Nvidia recently filed a complaint against Samsung alleging that the South Korean manufacturer violated some of Nvidia’s GPU-related patents in devices using both Qualcomm’s Snapdragon and Samsung’s Exynos processors. Now, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has voted to go ahead and begin investigating Samsung devices for infringement. Infringing devices will be banned from being imported into the US, with Nvidia focusing on the Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 4, and the Galaxy S4.

Nvidia is also targeting a few tablets, including the Galaxy Tab S, Galaxy Note Pro, and Galaxy Tab 2. All of these devices either use Samsung’s Exynos processors, or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4, 400, 600, 800, 801, and 805 chipsets, making the complaint rather broad, one that might spell trouble for Samsung, especially if newly launched devices like the Galaxy Note 4 are deemed guilty of infringement. However, the proceedings will likely take long to come to any conclusions, so Samsung might not have to worry just yet.

“We are pleased with the ITC decision today to open an investigation and look forward to presenting our case on how NVIDIA GPU patents are being used without a license,” said David Shannon, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Nvidia, in a statement.

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Samsung’s earnings estimate for Q3 2014 hints at a 60 percent drop in operating profit

Samsung has released its earnings estimate for Q3 2014 and it doesn’t good at all. Samsung is estimating a 60 percent drop in its operating profit for the last quarter when compared to Q3 2013. According to K-IFRS, Samsung has a consolidated sales of around 47 trillion Korean won with a consolidated operating profit of 4.1 trillion won which is lower than the operating profit from Q2 2014. These figures are just estimates and Samsung is expected to reveal actual numbers in the last week of October. A major reason behind its waning profit is due to declining smartphone sales. Samsung’s smartphone sales are getting squeezed by Apple in the high-end segment while the Chinese vendors are competing fiercely with Samsung in the entry-level smartphone segment.

Due to this slowdown, Samsung is investing in chip manufacturing and has managed to bag a deal from Appleto provide them with next-generation chips based on 14nm process. Recently, Samsung announced its plan toinvest around $14.7 billion on a new semiconductor plant in South Korea.

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Official-looking renders of the Samsung Galaxy A5 break cover

The official-looking renders of the Galaxy A5 have been surfaced on the Internet. The device was leaked yesterday along with the Galaxy A3. We had exclusively published the first images of the Galaxy A5 (SM-A500F) two weeks ago. It features a metallic frame, a 5-inch HD Super AMOLED display, a 13-megapixel primary camera, and a 5-megapixel secondary camera. It is equipped with a Snapdragon 400 processor, 16GB of internal storage, a 2,330 mAh battery, and runs Android 4.4 KitKat.

It appears that Samsung is working on a complete line-up of mid-range to high-end smartphones with premium materials (read metal) after introducing the Galaxy Alpha, which is their first Android smartphone made out of aluminium. Samsung is expected to release a complete range of metal-clad smartphones; the Galaxy A3, theGalaxy A5, and the Galaxy A7. These device are expected to be priced between $350 to $500.

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Samsung plans to invest $14.7 billion on a new semiconductor plant in South Korea

Samsung has confirmed that it is planning to invest 15.6 trillion Korean Won (about $14.7 billion) on a new semiconductor plant in South Korea. It has been confirmed by Samsung that the plant will be situated in Godeok Industrial Complex in Pyeongtaek and its construction will start in the first half of 2015. The new plant will provide jobs to over 150,000 people and will be operational in the second half of 2017. Samsung is yet to provide any details about the exact products which will be fabricated at this facility, though they promise that it will help them in meeting “…growing demand for advanced semiconductor products.”

Samsung’s revenue through its mobile division is diminishing due to increased competition from Apple in the high-end category and from Chinese brands in the entry-level smartphone market. Two weeks ago, its share price dropped to a 2-year low as profit estimates declined. This is why Samsung is investing on manufacturing semiconductor chips, a business unit which has been experiencing consistent growth. Last week, Samsung announced that it is expecting improved profits due to its deal with Apple to provide next generation processing chips based on 14nm technology. Last quarter, Samsung had announced that it would set up a $1 billion display manufacturing plant in Vietnam.

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Samsung Galaxy Core Prime breaks cover on Indian e-retailer website

A new entry-level Android smartphone from Samsung has broken  its cover on the Indian online retailer’s website. Flipkart has prematurely listed the Galaxy Core Prime on its website with a price tag of INR 8,499 which translates to about $138 or €110. The device is quite similar to the Galaxy Core LTE and the Galaxy Core Lite LTE. It features a 4.5-inch WVGA PLS LCD display, runs Android 4.4 KitKat, and is 8.8 mm thin. It is equipped with a 5-megapixel primary camera with LED flash, autofocus lens, 1080p video recording, and a 2-megapixel front-facing secondary camera.

The Galaxy Core Prime is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor of unknown make coupled with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of ROM. The storage capacity can be expanded by a microSD card slot (up to 64GB). As per the information available on the website, which is yet to be confirmed by Samsung, the Galaxy Core Prime would have a single SIM card slot (GSM – 900MHz, 1800MHz), though we would not be surprised if Samsung releases a dual-SIM version of the device. There are accelerometer, proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a 2,000 mAh battery.

The 4G LTE (TD-LTE and FDD-LTE) variant of the Galaxy Core Prime (SM-G3606, G3608 and G3609) has been certified by TENAA. All of them have dual-SIM card slots while two of them feature international 4G LTE connectivity and differ only whether they have GSM or CDMA connectivity. The single-SIM variant of the Galaxy Core Prime doesn’t feature LTE connectivity.

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