Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, holds itself and its supplier companies to the highest standards. In response to China Labor Watch's reports on our suppliers, we conducted an audit over a four-week period in September of 105 suppliers that manufacture Samsung products in China, covering more than 65,000 employees. The Samsung audit team, comprising 121 trained and certified employees, undertook this urgent and broad-scale action to ensure our suppliers in China are compliant with applicable labor laws and Samsung's Supplier Code of Conduct.

Samsung did not identify any instance of child labor during the audits after reviewing HR records of all workers aged below 18 and conducting face-to-face ID checks. However, the audit identified several instances of inadequate practices at the facilities, including overtime hours in excess of local regulations, management of supplier companies holding copies of labor contracts, and the imposition of a system of fines for lateness or absences.

Samsung is reportedly taking interest in ARM's big.LITTLE technology - an SoC design in which high-performance Cortex-A15 cores are combined by low-power Cortex-A7 cores, and the two are made to trade places as the device's CPU, depending on the load. An SoC slated for 2013, which could probably feature in high-end smartphones and tablets, sees a combination of four each of A15 and A7 cores. The A15 cores are clocked at 1.80 GHz, and A7 at 1.20 GHz, with the former featuring higher IPC than the latter. A 2 MB last-level cache serves as town-square for data and instructions going to the various cores. The chip will be built on the 28 nm process.

Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, announced today that for a limited time over this Black Friday weekend, its new 250 gigabyte (GB) SSD 840 solid-state drives will be available at a special discounted price and will include a download of the new "Far Cry 3" video game from Ubisoft Entertainment at no additional cost.

From Black Friday through Cyber Monday (11/22 - 11/26), or while supplies last, consumers will be able to purchase the 250 GB version of Samsung's SSD 840 drive for just $169.99, $20 less than the usual minimum advertised price. They also will receive a code enabling them to download the full PC version of "Far Cry 3," normally priced at $59.99.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced a next-generation 64 GB embedded multimedia card (eMMC) using 10 nanometer (nm)-class process technology. The new 64 Gb NAND memory went into production late last month.

Myungho Kim, vice president of Memory marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics noted, "The new high-speed, small form factor eMMC reinforces Samsung's technology leadership in storage memory solutions. We look forward to expanding our line-up of embedded memory solutions in conjunction with the new chip's design, in pursuing a system-level adoption of application processors and other key components that form the foundation for the most advanced mobile platforms. This will allow us to better attend to time-to-market demands enabling the design of more convenient features for next-generation mobile applications."

Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, announced today that its 840 family of SSDs is available for purchase. The new family of drives includes the 840 Pro SSD, a high-performance drive for professionals and tech enthusiasts that want the best possible computing performance, and the 840 SSD, for mainstream users that want an affordable upgrade solution for their PC.

For a limited time, the 840 Pro SSDs will also include a code for a downloadable full version of the highly anticipated video game "Assassin's Creed III," with purchase of the 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB models.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, today announced its fourth generation green memory solution at the annual Memory Solution CIO Forum at the Shilla hotel, Seoul, Korea. Designed to achieve superior system level performances, the new solution introduces a combination of its advanced 20 nanometer (nm) class DDR3 and 20 nm-class SSDs based on high-performance SATA 6.0 Gb/s and SAS interfaces respectively.

The new green memory solution addresses the benefits of green memory for next-generation enterprise servers, server storage solutions and personal computing solutions, broadening the benefits of green memory solutions even further throughout the IT industry. The reduced costs and optimized IT expenditure efficiencies are well in-line with the creating shared value (CSV) framework.

According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, as PC shipments are continually adjusted downwards and yearly growth has decreased by 5% YoY, demand for the peak season is not as strong as expected and the oversupply situation continues to worsen. As a result, contract price for 2 Gb chips fell by 22.5% in the third quarter, from US$1.11 in July to US$0.86 in September. Server and mobile DRAM are also showing falling price trends, resulting in an 8.5% drop in the value of the DRAM industry compared to the previous quarter; DRAM suppliers' revenues are falling across the board. However, looking at third quarter demand, with strong shipments for mobile devices like smartphones and tablet PCs, mobile DRAM accounted for 25% of total DRAM output, a significant increase from less than 20% in the second quarter. Consequently, market share is on the rise for memory makers with higher mobile DRAM ratios, like Samsung and Elpida. For the DRAM industry, improving core competitiveness lies in proper product adjustment, the key to profitability with such bleak market conditions.

Market research firm TrendForce released NAND flash shipment figures for 3Q 2012. The global NAND flash market is valued at US $4.626 billion, a healthy 6.6% growth over the previous quarter. A TrendForce DRAMeXchange report provided a break-down of shipments of NAND flash by manufacturers. Leading the pack is Samsung, with 41.2% market-share, registering a 1.8% QoQ growth. Trailing behind is Toshiba, with 24.7% market share, and a significant 12.9% QoQ growth. In September, Toshiba cut prices and scaled up production, which may have contributed to the growth. Micron holds 14.4% of the market with 2.8% growth, SK Hynix 11.6% with 6.4% growth (the company began mass-production of SSD-grade NAND flash this quarter), and Intel with 7.6% of the market-share, growing at 19.7%. Bear in mind, these numbers represent NAND flash components used not only in SSDs, but also USB flash drives, memory cards, etc.

Apple finally got around to complying with a recent judgement by a UK court, which told it to make a statement asserting that Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9, and Tab 7.7 do not violate design patents claimed by Apple. In addition to linking to the court order, the statement claims that the judgement is in effect throughout the European Union, and was upheld by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, on October 18, 2012. The judgement is expected to set a significant precedent in favor of Samsung in other parts of the world where the two companies are locked in similar legal disputes.

ARM announced the new ARM Cortex-A50 processor series based upon the ARMv8 architecture, extending ARM's leadership in performance and low power. The series initially includes the Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57 processors and introduces a new, energy-efficient 64-bit processing technology, as well as extending existing 32-bit processing. The scalability of the processor series enables ARM partners to create system-on-chips (SoCs) that address diverse markets, from smartphones through to high-performance servers.

The processors launched today will continue the evolution of the mobile computing experience by delivering up to three times the performance of today's superphones and extending today's superphone experience to entry-level smartphones. With a comprehensive set of ARM and ARM partner development tools and simulation models already available to enable faster and easier software development, both processors are fully compatible with the extensive ARM 32-bit ecosystem and integral to the rapidly evolving ARM 64-bit ecosystem.

According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, given the persistent oversupply situation in the global DRAM market, along with the -5% YoY shipment growth for PCs, October contract prices have dropped below $16 USD, and are continuing to approach the $15 USD mark. The trends pose as yet another test to the cost structures of DRAM makers. With prices approaching or dropping below cash cost, manufacturers are faced with the option of either undergoing production cuts or shifting their focus towards non-DRAM products.

Other than ProMOS, which chose to quit the DRAM market due to financial woes, manufacturers like Elpida and Rexchip have taken the initiative to lower their output levels in August. Powerchip, beginning September, took a similar initiative by adjusting P3 wafer levels, whereas in the following month, Nanya and Inotera made the official announcement to implement 20% production cuts. For the South Korean DRAM manufacturers, whose cost structures appear to be superior to those of other competitors, no production cuts have been announced nor taken, although efforts to control output ratios have been intensified. At the same time that production of commodity DRAM is being lowered, an increasing amount of emphasis is being placed on the production of the more profitable mobile and server DRAMs.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced revenues of 52.18 trillion Korean won on a consolidated basis for the third quarter ended September 30, 2012, a 26-percent increase year-on-year. For the quarter, the company's consolidated operating profit reached an all-time high of 8.12 trillion won, representing a 91-percent increase year-on-year. Consolidated net profit for the July-September period was 6.56 trillion won.

In its earnings guidance disclosed on October 5, Samsung estimated third quarter consolidated revenues would reach approximately 52 trillion won with consolidated operating profit of approximately 8.1 trillion won. Samsung's solid performance is mainly attributed to increased sales of handheld phones and stronger demand for display panels. The Mobile Communications Business posted 26.25 trillion won in revenue for the quarter, accounting for more than half of Samsung's total revenue. As for the display panel segment, increased shipments of Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) and Liquid Crystal Display panels used in tablets and smartphones, as well as TVs drove up profitability.

Samsung Electronics America Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today announced an expanded line of advanced SD and microSD cards with the introduction of a new Pro Series line featuring cards with capacities up to 64 GB and transfer speeds up to 80 MB per second.

Available now, the new cards are currently on display at PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. These new memory cards offer added performance benefits for photographers looking to capture high-quality images, or for mobile users looking to expand the storage capacity and life of their smartphone or tablet device.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated mobile devices graphics chip shipments and suppliers' market share for first half of 2012.

We found that shipments of GPUs in mobile devices (tablets and smart phones) during the first half of 2012 had a growth year to year (1h'11 to 1h'12) of 69.4%. Samsung's sales surged in the first half giving them the highest CAGR for the year (179%), followed by Qualcomm (39%), which was already enjoying high shipment rates. MediaTek (included under "Others" for this report but we will break them out by name in our next report on mobile devices) had a phenomenal 966% growth year to year (starting from a very low base).

Last week's 7.443 GHz overclocking feat of the AMD FX-8350 certainly wasn't the last of it, for the chip. Korean overclocker NAMEGT achieved a clock speed of 8176.47 MHz, with all eight cores enabled, and both DRAM channels populated. 8176.47 MHz was achieved with a base clock of 281.94 MHz, multiplier of 29X, and 1.932V to fuel the chip. ASUS ROG Crosshair V Formula-Z motherboard and Samsung-made DDR3 memory was used. The best performing chip was binned from two 12-chip trays. Cooling it all was trusty liquid nitrogen. Find the CPU-Z validation here, and HWBot certification here.

Samsung has today introduces its newest optical drive, a slim external DVD writer called SE-208DB. This burner weights 300 grams, it features USB 3.0 connectivity and 1 MB of buffer memory, and is capable of writing speeds of up to 8x for DVD-R/+R/+RW, 6x for DVD-RW/-R DL/+R DL, 5x for DVD-RAM and 24x for CD-R/-RW.

The SE-208DB comes in four color versions (white, black, red and blue) and it can be found priced at AU$49.50 (~ US$51).

Korean DRAM makers Samsung and SK Hynix have each stepped up efforts to scale up production on the new 20 nanometer silicon fabrication process, to make in the mainstream DRAM manufacturing process in 2013. The two have already begun volume production of DRAM on the 20 nm process in 2012, however, 30 nm remains as the mainstream DRAM production process. By 2H-2012, the 20 nm process could take its place. The two companies will gradually shift their focus from PC DRAM to enterprise and mobile DRAM, as PC DRAM continues to reel with oversupply.

A Samsung employee told Korea Times that the company has stopped making touchscreens for Apple, a major component of the iPad. Despite legal tussles between the companies over design patents of smartphones and tablets on a near-global scale, Samsung maintained a supplier relationship with Apple, making touchscreens and contract-manufacturing ASICs at its semiconductor fabs. According to the employee's statement to the newspaper, Apple has become a troublesome customer paying less and less for LCD screens, resulting in the Korean company to cut back on orders. Apple has been paying half of what it used to for screens in the iPad 2. The upcoming iPad Mini, which will be launched a little later this week, will not feature Samsung screens.

World Cyber Games (WCG) announced today that Samsung Electronics has been selected as the official monitor partner of the WCG 2012 Grand Final which will be taking place from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2 in Kunshan, China. The Series 7 (S24B750) and Series 3 (S23B370H) monitors will be used by the national team competitors during the WCG 2012 Grand Final tournament.

"The fact that Samsung has been selected as the official partner of WCG for 12 consecutive years demonstrates that our monitors are recognized as a global display leader by gamers," said Jeong-Hwan Kim, senior vice president of Display Sales and Marketing at Samsung Electronics. "We will do our best to provide the best environment for professional gamers."
"Thanks to Samsung's monitors, cyber athletes can enjoy games in a more comfortable environment," said Brad Lee, CEO of World Cyber Games. "The monitors will be used in the China national team selection match, followed by the WCG 2012 Grand Final, which runs from Oct. 26 to 28."

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated mobile devices graphics chip shipments for the first half of 2012. Mobile devices include smartphones, tablets, and game consoles.

The market for portable devices (mobile devices that we can carry) continues to soar in spite of economic difficulties and general uncertainty. Although portable devices are not necessarily replacing the PC, they are outselling the PC. All of these devices have a graphics processor (GPU) integrated in the device's system on a chip (SoC) application processor.

Google announced its newest Chromebook, made by Samsung. The 11.6-incher is completely fan-less, and just 0.8" thin, weighing 1.13 kg. It is designed to give you over 6.5 hours of usage on full charge, and smooth 1080p video playback. Under its hood is a Samsung Exynos 5 dual-core ARM processor, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of local flash storage, in addition to which, you get 100 GB of space on Google Drive for 2 years. The latest version of Chrome OS comes with Google Now integration (real-time sync with data on the cloud). Connectivity includes HDMI, 802.11 b/g/n, and Bluetooth. A web-cam decks the top of the screen. The new Chromebook will be available through Play Store and Best Buy for US $249.99.A video presentation follows.

A British court ruled that Samsung Galaxy Tab did not pose a copyright infringement of Apple iPad. Apple and Samsung are locked in design patent infringement lawsuits around the world, with the UK being an important market for both. In addition to its ruling, the court told Apple to issue a public apology to Samsung and its customers in advertisements, with a font size no smaller than Arial 14. The court of appeal upheld its judgement that and Samsung did not infringe Apple's design.

Logitec introduced a NAS device of a different kind: an optical drive that acts as a WLAN hotspot, letting a wide range of devices such as smartphones, tablets, and notebooks access contents of DVDs, or write onto them. The drive works as a standard external DVD writer over USB 2.0 interface, using a single cable for both host connectivity and power. USB is the drive's only power source, so you'll need AC adapters or vehicle cigarette lighter adapter to use it without a host PC.

Its optical drive component is originally made by TSST (Toshiba-Samsung). It can write DVD ± R/+RW at 8X, DVD±R DL /-RW at 6X, DVD-RAM at 5X, and CDs at 24X. DVDs are read at speeds of up to 8X, and CDs at 24X. The drive ships with store links to apps on Apple App Store and Google Play, which let you download file-manager, and disc burning software for smartphones and tablets; as well as Nero Kwik Burn for PCs. Measuring 150 x 198 x 25 mm, the drives weigh about 430 g. The base model, which includes just a USB cable and AC adapter is priced at 6,980 JPY (US $88.2), and a variant that includes a vehicle power adapter for 8,980 JPY (US $113.4).

Samsung Electronics America Inc., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, today announced details about its upcoming Windows 8 mobile PC and All-In-One product lines. Building on its leadership position in the PC and tablet market, Samsung is bringing premium computing power, elegant design and an intuitive user experience to its PCs along with seamless convergence across devices, thanks to Samsung AllShare Play. In addition, Samsung offers a range of unique applications across devices including Samsung Quick Starter, and exclusive S Pen apps such as S Note and S Memo.

"Samsung has seen extraordinary growth in the mobile PC category over the past few years, and we're now taking our success to the next level by connecting the PC to other devices in the home or office through our convergence technology, Samsung AllShare Play," said Mike Abary, senior vice president of consumer IT product marketing at Samsung Electronics America. "The launch of Windows 8 provides an inflection point in the evolution of the PC. Samsung has always focused on pushing the boundaries of design to create truly remarkable products that consumers and businesses want. We're confident that we will continue to lead the future with our thoughtful, powerful approach to the computing experience."

Samsung is working on a fleet of devices that take advantage of Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system. These include touch-capable Ultrabooks, tablet hybrids, and all-in-one desktops. Samsung's Windows 8 Ultrabook lineup begins with Series 5 Ultra Touch. Starting at $809.99, these 13-inch Ultrabooks are powered by Core i3 "Ivy Bridge" dual-core processors (upgradable to Core i5 for $50 extra), 4 GB of RAM, 1366 x 768 pixels touchscreen display, and 500 GB HDD accelerated with 24 GB cache-SSD. It tips the scales at 1.73 kg. Samsung's second Ultrabook in the new lineup is the premium Series 9 Ultra Touch, starting at $1,300 for 13-inch and $1,400 for 15-inch.

Moving on, Samsung has two lines of Windows 8-loaded notebooks, starting with Series 3, which is available in a variety of hardware and screen size options, priced in the range of $450 to $900; and Series 7 15-inch notebook, which starts at $1,100. Samsung's new all-in-one lineup begins with Ativ SmartPC 500T and 700T, powered by Intel Atom Z2760 and Core i5, respectively, with memory ranging between 2 GB to 4 GB, featuring 64 GB to 128 GB SSD storage. The 500T starts at $649.99, while the 700T starts at 1,199.99. Samsung's mid-range all-in-one offering is the Series 5, which starts at $800, featuring a 21.5-inch HD screen. Its premium all-in-one PC offering is the Series 7, which starts at $1,100 for 23.6-inch and $1,700 for 27-inch variants. These devices will be launched closer to that of Windows 8, slated for October 26.