SAMSUNG RECIPE FOR PRODUCT SUCCESS
Sam Grobart of Bloomberg wrote: “Consider the disciplined way Samsung Electronics moves into new product categories. Like other Korean conglomerates—LG and Hyundai come to mind—the first step is to start small: make a key component for that industry. Ideally the component will be something that costs a lot of money to manufacture, since costly barriers to entry help limit competition. Microprocessors and memory chips are perfect. “A semiconductor fab costs $2 billion to $3 billion a pop, and you can’t build half a fab,” says Lee Keon Hyok, Samsung’s global head of communications (and no relation to Chairman Lee). “You either have one or you don’t.”[Source: Sam Grobart, Bloomberg, March 29, 2013]
“Once the infrastructure is in place, Samsung begins selling its components to other companies. This gives the company insight into how the industry works. When Samsung decides to expand operations and start competing with the companies it has been supplying, it makes massive investments in plants and technologies, leveraging its foothold into a position that other companies have little chance of matching. Last year, Samsung Electronics devoted $21.5 billion to capital expenditures, more than twice what Apple spent in the same period. “Samsung makes big bets on technologies,” says Newman. “They study the hell out of the problem, and then they bet the farm on it.”
“As Samsung has risen, others have failed, often in spectacular fashion: Motorola was split up and its handset business sold to Google. Nokia watched its long-standing No.1 position erode when it got blindsided by smartphones. The Sony-Ericsson partnership dissolved. Palm disappeared into Hewlett-Packard. BlackBerry continues to be on a 24-hour watch and has had its belt and shoelaces confiscated. When it comes to mobile hardware, today there’s only Apple, Samsung, and a desperate crowd of brands that can’t seem to rise above being called “the rest.”
“Such striving for efficiency and excellence wasn’t always a priority. In 1995, Chairman Lee was dismayed to learn that cell phones he gave as New Year’s gifts were found to be inoperable. He directed underlings to assemble a pile of 150,000 devices in a field outside the Gumi factory. More than 2,000 staff members gathered around the pile. Then it was set on fire. When the flames died down, bulldozers razed whatever was remaining. “If you continue to make poor-quality products like these,” Lee Keon Hyok recalls the chairman saying, “I’ll come back and do the same thing.”
In the mid 2000s, the Samsung Group had about 2,500 PhDs on its payroll and it was applying for patents, especially in targeted sectors like LCDs (liquid crystal displays) at a record pace.
Samsung Chips and Semiconductors
In the 1970s, Samsung acquired a 50 percent stake in Korea Semiconductor, further solidifying Samsung Electronics' position as a leader in semiconductor manufacturing. In 1978, Samsung Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics became separate entities.
In 1982, Korea Telecommunications Corp. changed its name to Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications Co. In 1988, Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications Co merged with Samsung Electronics and home appliances, telecommunications, and semiconductors were selected as core business lines.
In 1992, Samsung completed the world's first 64M DRAM and the world's first 64M DRAM. In 1994, the development of world's first 256M DRAM completed. In 1996, development of the 1G DRAM was completed. Samsung developed world's fastest CPU (central processing unit), the Alpha chip and began mass production of 64M DRAMs. In 1998, the world's first 128M SDRAM was introduced and development of world's first 128MB Synchronous DRAM and 128MB Flash memory were completed,
In 2002, Samsung was the world’s second largest chipmaker. In 2003 and 2004, it was the world’s largest manufacturer of memory chips. Toshiba and Samsung were in a bitter battle for control of the flash memory business. Toshiba built new sophisticated plant on Yokkaicha Japan that made the devises and was very secretive about what went on there. While Toshiba invented the chips Samsung has used bigger production volumes and cheaper prices to become the market leader. It had 50 percent of the market in 2005 while Toshiba had 22 percent.
In the mid 2000s, Samsung was producing the world ‘s most powerful memory chips, capable of storing 80 DVD movies. The Sydney Morning Herald reported: The company said it has developed the world's first 64-gigabit NAND flash memory product, which it called "a major leap forward" in flash storage. Up to 16 of the chips could be combined to make a 128-gigabyte memory card that would be able to store 80 DVD movies or 32,000 MP3 music files, it said, adding that production would begin in 2009. "This has the biggest storage capacity of a single memory chip ever developed in the world," Kwon Hyosun, a senior manager in Samsung Electronics's investor relations department, told AFP. [Source: Sydney Morning Herald, October 31 2007]
“Samsung said the new product would create a new 20-billion dollar market until 2011 by offering fresh applications for various multimedia items such as mobile handsets, digital cameras and MP3 players. Unlike dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, the conventional memory chips used for personal computers, flash memory can retain and store information even when a device's power is turned off.
DRAM makers, market share in sales (2010 July -September quarter): 1) Samsung, South Korea (40.4 percent); 2) Hynix Semiconductors, South Korea, (19.8 percent); 3) Elpida, Japan (16.1 percent); 4) Mircon Technology, U.S. (12 percent); 5) Nanya Technology (4.2 percent); 6) Powerchip Technology, Taiwan (2.6 percent); 7) ProMOS Technologies, Taiwan (1.8 percent). [Source: DRAMeXchnage survey]
Samsung Televisions
In 1969, Samsung-Sanyo Electronics was established (renamed Samsung Electro-Mechanics in March 1975 and merged with Samsung Electronics in March 1977). The production of a black-and-white television (model: P-3202) started at Samsung-Sanyo began soon afterwards.
In 1972, production of black-and-white televisions for domestic sale began. In 1976, the 1 millionth black-and-white TV was produced. In 1978, the 4 millionth black-and-white TV — most in the world — was produced.
In 1977 Samsung put Korean engineers to work dismantling color television sets from the United States, Europe and Japan to see how they could be copied. It took about three years for Samsung to go into production of color television sets. In 1979 Samsung started making VCRs. In 1980, the 1 millionth color TV was produced. In 1982, the 10 millionth black-and-white was TV produced. In 1984, the first Samsung VCRs were exported to the U.S. In 1989, the 20 millionth color TV was produced.
Emily Beach wrote in techwalls: In 1987, the company created the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology to increase its focus on research and new product development. As international trade laws were relaxed throughout the 1990s, Samsung continued to export TVs throughout the world. The company partnered with Sony during the period to create Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens, which provided clearer and sharper viewing experiences for consumers. [Source: Emily Beach, techwalls]
Samsung Flat -Screen Televisions
In 1997, Samsung developed the world's largest TFT-LCD (thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display) and the world's first 30" TFT-LCD. In 1998, Samsung achieved top world market share of the TFT-LCD market and began mass production of world's first digital TV. The company also began mass production of the world’s first digital TV and development of completely flat-screen TV completed. In 1999, Samsung was the first in the world to mass-produce and offer a full line up of digital TVs. The same year Samsung Developed the world's first 3D TFT-LCD monitor.
In 2003, Samsung was the world’s largest manufacturer of flat screens for televison and computers. In 2004, it was world's largest producer of color monitors, color TVs, and TFT-LCDs.
In 2006, Samsung, Sharp, Seiko Epson, Toshiba, Panasonic, NEC, Hitachi, LG Philips and several other Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese companies were being investigated for forming a cartel to control the price of liquid crystal displays (LCDs)
Global LCD panel market in the late 2000s: 1) Samsung (26 percent); 2) LG (25.9 percent); 3) AU Optronics, Taiwan (16.1 percent); 4) Chimei Innolux, Taiwan (14 percent); 5) Sharp (10.3 percent); 6) Other s (7.6 percent). [Source: U.S. DisplaySearch]
Global flat-screen television sales (market share in October -December 2010): 1) Samsung (21.4 percent); 2) Sony (14.2 percent); 3) LG. Flat screen television sales share in North America in 2009: 1) Samsung (26.9 percent); 2) Sony (14.3 percent); 3) Vizio (10.7 percent); 4) Panasonic (8.5 percent); 5) LG (8.3 percent); 6) Sharp (5.5 percent)
In 2009 in the U.S., Samsung had an 80 percent share of LED televisions and a 75 percent share of the market for televisions that accessed the Internet. In 2010, Samsung introduced a 3-D television. Samsung smart television have sold well but its curved TV went down about as well as its cars.
Samsung Dominates Global TV Market for 10th Straight Year
Since 1996, Samsung has topped the global TV market. In 2015, Samsung held a 21.0 percent market share. LG was ranked second and Sony third. Rasmus Larsen wrote in flatpanelshd.com: “The Japanese brands continue to struggle and the Chinese brands continue to grow. Over the last decade the South Korean brands have conquered the TV market but they are facing new threats. Last year, Samsung and LG held a combined 33.6 percent market share (down from 37.1 percent in 2014) in terms of unit sales. [Source: Rasmus Larsen, flatpanelshd.com, March 15, 2016, IHS Research via Korea Herald]
The Japanese brands continue to struggle with Sony the only remaining manufacturer in top-5. Panasonic is no longer a dominant force, and Sharp, Toshiba, Hitachi, JVC and Pioneer are no longer relevant in the global TV market. Combined the Japanese brands have a 15.3 percent share (18.8 percent in 2014) of the TV market. Instead, Chinese players continue to take market share. Last year, Chinese manufacturers held a combined 27.5 percent share (21.8 percent in 2014) of the global market. They are currently expanding to Europe and USA.
For 2015 Samsung held a 21.0 percent market share in terms of sold units. That is down from 22.5 in 2014 but up from 14.2 percent ten years ago in 2006 when Samsung for the first time beat Sony. The year before, in 2005, six Japanese brands - Hitachi, JVC, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba - were among the top-10 global TV makers. Samsung alone has sold 427 million TVs in the last decade. LG was second in 2015 with a 12.6 percent share (14.5 percent in 2014). Sony was third. IHS did not specify Sony’s market share but said that Chinese Hisense and TCL each held a 5.6 percent share.
Japanese TV Makers Outperformed by Samsung
Japanese electronics companies are now overshadowed by South Korean manufacturers. Initially, Japanese manufacturers held an advantage over foreign producers in the flat-screen TV market. For example, flat-screen TVs produced at Sharp's Kameyama plant in Mie Prefecture--known as the "Kameyama model"--became synonymous for a high-quality TV. With this success, Sharp once held the largest global market share for flat-screen TVs. [Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, May 19, 2012]
“However, during the mid-2000s, South Korean manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co. began to catch up to Japanese manufacturers, making it difficult for them to differentiate themselves from their South Korean competitors in terms of technology. South Korean companies took the initiative and opened up markets by boosting production capacity and productivity through aggressive large-scale investments. Additionally, a weak won has helped South Korean companies increase their price competitiveness, while the strong yen has hurt Japanese companies' ability to compete.
“In 2005, the Japanese share of the global TV market was about 48 percent, far exceeding the 21 percent held by South Korean firms. In 2010, however, Japanese companies' share fell to 38 percent, while the share of South Korean rivals rose to 36 percent and now surpasses Japan. Japanese makers no longer lead in technology and find it difficult to keep up with South Korean companies making large capital investments. [Source: Etsuo Kono and Kiminori Kurihara, Yomiuri Shimbun, October 21, 2011]
In 2011, Samsung held the largest global market share for TVs at 23.8 percent, followed by LG Electronics Inc. at 13.7 percent. Japanese makers came far behind, with Sony at 10.6 percent; Panasonic Corp. at 7.8 percent; and Sharp at 6.9 percent.
Reuters reported: “Some analysts say the $100 billion LCD TV market peaked in 2010 and forecast it will shrink 3 to 4 percent annually, as consumers in advanced countries have already traded in their bulky cathode-ray tube TV sets for flat screens, while the LCD market has been in a glut since last summer. Global TV manufacturers are restructuring their businesses and outsourcing production as cut-throat competition and weak demand squeeze margins. Analysts have criticized Sony for failing to aggressively take on the competition in the TV market from South Korean rivals Samsung and LG Electronics Inc, the largest and second-largest players, respectively. [Source: Reiji Murai and Hyunjoo Jin, Reuters, December 26, 2011]
Sony Sells LCD Venture Stake to Samsung for $940 Million
In December 2011, Reuters reported: “Sony Corp has agreed to sell its nearly 50 percent stake in an LCD joint venture with Samsung Electronics to the South Korean company for $940 million, as it struggles to reduce huge losses at its TV business. The seven-year-old venture cut its capital by 15 percent in July and industry sources had said Sony was negotiating an exit, aiming to switch to cheaper outsourcing for flat screens for its TVs while Samsung pushes ahead with next-generation displays. [Source: Reiji Murai and Hyunjoo Jin, Reuters, December 26, 2009]
“In terms of direction it is a positive (for Sony)," said Keita Wakabayashi, an analyst at Mito Securities in Tokyo, about the deal. "But if they are making a loss on the sale, one could ask why they didn't make this decision sooner. Their biggest problem is that they are not making a profit even though they don't have many plants," he said. "Sony may shift to Taiwanese LCD makers should they offer cheaper prices," Song Myung-sup, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities, said in Seoul.
“Launched in 2004, Sony's panel venture with Samsung, S-LCD, was established to secure stable supplies for Sony's flat-screen TVs at a time of shortages. The venture expanded its production facilities in line with growing demand for LCD televisions. Sony invested 130 billion yen in the project and received around half of the venture's LCD output.
“Once a symbol of Japan's high-tech might, Sony has sold off TV factories in Spain, Slovakia and Mexico in the past few years and outsources more than half of its production to companies including Hon Hai Precision Industry, the contract electronics maker that also counts iPhone maker Apple Inc as a key customer. Sony retains four TV plants of its own -- in Japan, Brazil, China and Malaysia.
Samsung Cell Phones
In 1991, Samsung’s development of a mobile phone handset was completed. In 1992, the company developed a mobile phone system.
In 2003, Samsung was is the world’s No. 3 maker of cell phones after Nokia of Finland and Motorola in the United States, In December 2004, Samsung surpassed Motorola to become the world’s second largest cell phone maker. Some 20 million Samsung cellphones were circulating in the US markets by 2004. In 2008, Samsung was the largest cellphone producer in the US.
In 2012, Samsung overtook Nokia to become the world’s largest cell phone maker, even outselling Apple's iPhone. Charles Arthur wrote in The Guardian: Samsung appears to have become the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, passing Finland's Nokia, top since 1998, as Samsung Electronics reported record first-quarter results. Though the company did not reveal precise numbers, some analysts reckon that it sold more smartphones – 44.5 million – in the first three months of the year than Apple's 35.1 million for its iPhone. Overall, they calculated that it shipped 93.5 million mobile phones, compared with 82.7 million for Nokia.
Samsung's estimated total gave it a 30.6 percent share of the smartphone market. Apple's sales gave it a 24.1 percent share. "Samsung and Apple are out-competing most major rivals, and the smartphone market is at risk of becoming a two-horse race," said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics. [Source: Charles Arthur, The Guardian , April 17, 2012]
Samsung Smartphones
In 1999, Samsung developed wireless Internet phone — a small, multi-function phone. This is regarded by some as the first Smartphone. The Samsung touchscreen phone debuted in the U.S. in 2003.
The first Samsung Galaxy S, the company's high-end smartphone series, was released in 2010. Although it achieved relative success in international markets, with 24 million in sales worldwide by 2012, it fell short in the US and was beat by Apple's iPhone 4 — which sold about 85 million units in roughly the same period, according to Android Authority.
With the arrival of S3 Galaxy in May 2012, Samsung became a serious challenger to Apple. In 2012, Samsung held about 33 percent of the global smartphone market, while Apple accounted for about 17 percent. In the United States, Apple has 34.3 percent of the smartphone market. 52 was able to maintain it almost two-to-one sales advantage over Apple through the midd 2010s.
Ewan Spence wrote in Fortune: Of the 292 million smartphones shipped in Q1 2016, Samsung accounted for 27.8 percent, almost double Apple's 14.4 percent share. Doubling the numbers of your nearest rival is always a good to hear. Even if circumstances mean this is unlikely to hold over the next few quarters, it gives the South Korean company's PR team a vital promotional edge over the next month - a period when the new flagship handsets are still hot and in demand.
“It's worth nothing that the quarter saw Samsung release the Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge, two highly anticipated phones that consumers have been waiting on. This would have helped push the South Korean shipment figures higher. In the same quarter Apple had little new to offer. While the iPhone 6S family was still holding its own after the festive period, the only new device to join the portfolio was the iPhone SE, which arrived at the very end of the quarter. The impact of the budget handset will not show up until the current quarter ends.
“As expected, the perfect storm of a weak point in Apple's smartphone cycle, coupled with the peak moment in Samsung's cycle has given the South Korean company a moment where it can maximize every advantage it has against a weakened competition. Apple is of course already on the turn, the iPhone SE will start showing up in volume over the next few months, and as the anticipation builds around the presumptively titled iPhone 7, the Galaxy S7 family will see sales tail off as the fans all pick up their new smartphone.
“Samsung needs to build up momentum now with these figures. It has a much wider product portfolio and there are new handsets coming on stream throughout the year. The S7 is expected to bring an S7 Active and S7 Mini into the portfolio, there is a huge amount of excitement around the potential of the Galaxy Note 6, and Samsung's midrange devices - while not getting the critical acclaim - are playing a huge role in boosting Samsung's revenue and profit.
“Where Samsung has fallen behind in previous years is in its marketing. It needs to project an air of innovation, of excellence, and of popularity. The draw of success in early 2016 needs to be turned into sales. The Galaxy S7 family has picked up critical acclaim, and is portrayed as being one of the most advanced smartphones on the planet. Initial sales indications are showing a recovery after the poor results from the Galaxy S6 family, and TrendForce's report hands the marketing team one more bullet to exploit.
How Samsung Became the World's No. 1 Smartphone Maker
Sam Grobart of Bloomberg wrote: Samsung’s smartphones “made Samsung as recognizable a presence around the world as Walt Disney and Toyota Motor. If Samsung isn’t yet as lustrous a brand as Apple, it’s finding success as the anti-Apple—Galaxy smartphones outsell iPhones. And Samsung is probably the only other company that can throw a product introduction and have people line up around a city block, as they did in New York City on March 14 for the launch of the Galaxy S 4. That never used to happen when Samsung unveiled a refrigerator—although the kimchi-specific models made for the Korean market are really quite impressive. [Source: Sam Grobart, Bloomberg, March 29, 2013]
The pivotal event that sent Samsung on its way to making great phones arguably too place in 1995. Then, “Chairman Lee was dismayed to learn that cell phones he gave as New Year’s gifts were found to be inoperable. He directed underlings to assemble a pile of 150,000 devices in a field outside the Gumi factory. More than 2,000 staff members gathered around the pile. Then it was set on fire. When the flames died down, bulldozers razed whatever was remaining. “If you continue to make poor-quality products like these,” Lee Keon Hyok recalls the chairman saying, “I’ll come back and do the same thing.”
“The lesson stuck. In May 2012, three weeks before the new Galaxy S III was to be shipped, a Samsung customer told the company that the back covers for the smartphone looked cheaper than the demo models shown to clients earlier. “He was right,” says DJ Lee, the marketing chief of Samsung Mobile. “The grain wasn’t as fine on the later models.” There were 100,000 covers in the warehouse with the inferior design, as well as shipments of the assembled devices waiting at airports. This time, there would be no bonfire—all 100,000 covers, as well as those on the units at the airports, were scrapped and replaced.
“Besides the Great Phone Incineration of 1995, two other signal acts helped propel Samsung’s rise in smartphones. The first was in 2009, when it bet big on Android, Google’s operating system for mobile. Samsung’s first Android device was called the Galaxy. “We were not successful with our first Android phone,” says DJ Lee. “The app store was limited.” Android was still in its infancy, greatly outclassed by the iPhone’s operating system, iOS. But Android was open-source, which meant that it was available free of charge to any manufacturer that wanted it.
“In 2010, Samsung introduced the Galaxy S line, exemplifying its second momentous decision: using bigger screens. The Galaxy S’s screen was significantly larger than the original Galaxy and other Android models. “We settled on a 4-inch screen, which people thought was too big,” says DJ Lee. “There was a lot of argument about that.” But the bigger screens proved to be a major selling point; they grew larger still on the Galaxy S II and S III. Now, Samsung smartphones come in sizes ranging from 2.8 inches to 5 inches (to say nothing of the company’s “phablets,” which go up to 5.5). “Nobody had any idea what the right screen size was, so Samsung made all of them and saw which one worked,” says Benedict Evans, a researcher at Enders Analysis.
“Producing a range of similar devices in various sizes to see which sells best is one of those high-cost undertakings most companies shy away from. But Samsung’s ability to produce display, memory, processors, and other high-tech parts gives it a flexibility competitors can’t touch. “There was this orthodoxy 10 years ago that vertical integration was passé,” says Tero Kuittinen, an analyst at Alekstra, a mobile-phone consultancy. “Then it turned out that the only two companies that took it seriously [Samsung and Apple] took over the whole handset industry.”
Samsung Versus Apple Smartphones
Sam Grobart of Bloomberg wrote: “Apple’s approach is fewer models, each of them exquisitely designed. Samsung’s is try everything, and fast. “When we released the Galaxy S III, our research showed that, for some people in some markets, the handset was too big,” says DJ Lee. “So we were able to create the same phone with a 4-inch screen, and we called it the Galaxy S III mini.” Getting the smaller device into production took about four to six months, says DJ Lee. “We watch the market, and we immediately respond,” he says. The new Galaxy S 4 is coming out only nine months after the GS3. “Samsung has taken differentiation to a new art,” says Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner. “If I want something in between an iPad and an iPad mini, I can’t get that from Apple.”[Source: Sam Grobart, Bloomberg, March 29, 2013]
“Apple’s vertical integration has one thing Samsung’s doesn’t, though: control over the software. Only Apple smartphones and tablets run iOS, and one of the hallmarks of the iPhone and iPad is how smoothly the software and hardware work together. That’s fostered an industry of app makers, and the company gets a cut of every app sold.
Samsung is making efforts to strengthen its position by opening a software development center in Silicon Valley. It may never have the kind of operating system control that Apple has. Samsung does, however, use its production depth and flexibility in ways that are arguably as powerful. It makes the processors, memory chips, and cameras that are in not only their own smartphones but also in many others—including the microprocessor in the iPhone 5. The express policy of the company is that the components business is walled off from the “set” business (its own finished products, like the Galaxy S 4), and that the one side doesn’t know what the other is doing. But few people who watch the company think Samsung keeps itself in the dark. New technologies take time to develop, particularly if that technology is needed in large quantities. “Having that early-stage insight into the supply chain has been one of the key factors to give them an edge,” says Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics. “They can see three years ahead.”
This is an extremely sore subject with some of Samsung’s customers. Apple sued Samsung in the U.S. and elsewhere for patent infringement, from the basic shape of the phone to how a screen bounces back when users scroll to the bottom; Samsung denies the accusations, and has countersued. The legal war shows no sign of ending. Apple won a round in August, when a federal jury awarded Apple $1 billion in damages. That case is now on appeal, and the judge recently reduced the award by about half.
However the many court cases play out, Samsung wouldn’t have to break the law to use its position as a supplier to its advantage. If a manufacturing customer merely approaches Samsung with a request for a new kind of processor, that information is valuable. “Having a road map of, say, Apple and knowing what competitors are doing is pretty useful,” says Bernstein’s Newman. “It’s not copying, and it’s not illegal. You just know that in 2013, Apple’s going to need a quad-core processor.”
Future of Samsung Smartphones
Sam Grobart of Bloomberg wrote: “Perhaps Samsung will grow so huge it invites new government scrutiny in Korea. Maybe iPhones 6, 7, and 8 will prove so beautiful and compelling, not even the chairman will have an answer. A likelier scenario is that another company, probably from China, will do to Samsung what it has done to its competitors. “The Chinese look like Samsung did five years ago,” says Horace Dediu, an independent mobile analyst. He identifies Huawei and ZTE as particular threats; other analysts bring up Lenovo. “Samsung makes less profit per smartphone than Apple,” Dediu continues. “The Chinese make even less. If the smartphone is going to become a commodity, how does Samsung play in that game?” [Source: Sam Grobart, Bloomberg, March 29, 2013]
“Lee Keon Hyok predicts that smartphones will indeed become commoditized, just as PCs did in the 1990s. “But you have to remember, we make a lot of parts,” he says. “The shape may change, but phones are still going to require AMOLED displays, memory, and processors. We are well prepared to meet those changes.” AMOLED refers to active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes. It’s the state of the art and possibly the only display technology that has its own K-pop song: Amoled, a catchy 2009 number by Son Dam-bi and After School.
“When the mobile business ceases to be profitable, Samsung will have to force its way into some other industry that requires a lot of upfront capital and expertise in mass-manufacturing. The company announced in late 2011 that it would spend $20 billion by 2020 to develop proficiencies in medical devices, solar panels, LED lighting, biotech, and batteries for electric cars. And if Samsung batteries or MRI machines don’t take over the market, maybe the chairman will set a huge pile of them on fire. “The chairman is saying all the time, ‘This is perpetual crisis,’?” says mobile marketing chief DJ Lee. “We are in danger. We are in jeopardy.”
Which is Bigger Samsung or Apple?
Srikant Ritolia, Intern at Samsung, posted on Quora in 2013: Samsung is a much bigger company than Apple. Samsung is a conglomerate company. Samsung industrial subsidiaries include Samsung Electronics, Samsung Heavy Industries (second-largest shipbuilder measured by 2010 revenues),Samsung Engineering, Samsung C&T (construction business), and Samsung Techwin (a weapons technology and optoelectronics manufacturer), etc. The combined revenue of all the subsidaries is much higher than Apple. Fortune Ranking - Samsung Electronics is 20th in the fortune global ranking list 2012 whereas apple is 55th in the list. Samsungs's revenue was US$148.9 Billion whereas that of Apple was US108.2 billion.
Kenneth McLaughlin, posted on Quora in 2014: According to Forbes Magazine, Apple is the most valuable brand with a market cap of $416.62 billion. Samsung is the ninth most valuable brand with a market cap of $174.39 billion making Apple the larger company financially. Apple has an employee headcount of 80,300 full time individuals not including factory workers and Apple store employees. Samsung employs 270,000 worldwide including the factories, which they own unlike Apple. This makes Samsung the larger company employee-wise.
Tejas Upmanyu, iOS Developer and Computer Science Enthusiast, posted in 2018: According to the Korea Exchange on March 20, the combined market capitalization of 23 Samsung affiliates, including preferred stocks, stood at 442.47 trillion won (US$395.77 billion). Apple took the top spot in the tech group weeks after shares hit a new record high, reaching over $147 per share for the first time on May 2 despite disappointing iPhone sales. For the past year, Apple saw $217 billion in sales, $45 billion in profit, $331 billion in assets and a market cap of $752 billion. Apple is not only the largest tech company in the world, but also also the 9th largest company in the world.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons.
Text Sources: South Korean government websites, Korea Tourism Organization, Cultural Heritage Administration, Republic of Korea, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Library of Congress, CIA World Factbook, World Bank, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, “Culture and Customs of Korea” by Donald N. Clark, Chunghee Sarah Soh in “Countries and Their Cultures”, “Columbia Encyclopedia”, Korea Times, Korea Herald, The Hankyoreh, JoongAng Daily, Radio Free Asia, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, BBC, AFP, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Yomiuri Shimbun and various books and other publications.
Updated in July 2021