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The Morning After: Samsung's new family of Galaxy Book laptops
There's a lot of 'em.
Samsung’s big event yesterday had nothing to do with phones — for once. It was still all about the Galaxy family, though, with the company unveiling a selection of new Galaxy Book laptops.
To start with, both the Galaxy Book Pro and Pro 360 (starting at $999 and $1,199) feature vivid AMOLED displays — something Samsung’s phones are known for — inside thin, light bodies. The cool part is you can easily switch between four color spectrums, including Adobe RGB and DCI-P3. It’s a smart feature for anyone looking to balance vivid colors with color accuracy when editing photos or video. The clamshell and convertible (with touchscreen) laptops will each come in 13- and 15-inch sizes. Interestingly, and despite its size, the 13-inch Book Pro 360 also manages to house a 5G radio, making it Samsung’s first 5G PC. Expect to see a WiFi model first, however. Samsung plans to launch the Pro family on May 14th.
The company also revealed a cheaper model, too: the Galaxy Book (from $800) features an LCD display and makes its way to the US later this year. Rounding off the collection, the Galaxy Book Odyssey is the first laptop to include NVIDIA's new RTX 3050 Ti Max-Q GPU.
— Mat Smith
CES plans a return as an in-person event in 2022
Even in normal years, lots of people get sick at CES.
The Consumer Technology Association has announced plans to hold CES 2022 as a combination in-person and digital event in Las Vegas between January 5th and January 8th, with media preview days starting January 3rd. And yes, big-name brands have committed to CES — Amazon, Google, Intel, Samsung and Sony are among those expected to have a presence.
So... we’ll see you in Las Vegas, maybe? Continue reading.
iPhone and Mac sales are way up from the start of the pandemic
Meanwhile, Apple's crucial services business hit another all-time high.
Repeating the pattern of thriving tech companies during the pandemic, Apple says that over the past three months, it made a total of $89.6 billion in revenue — nearly $48 billion of which came as iPhone sales, up 66 percent — and set another quarterly record in the process. Even Mac sales hit a high watermark this quarter. The company’s computers netted it $9.1 billion in revenue, more than during back-to-school season or holiday period. The services business, too, reached an all-time high of $16.9 billion. Continue reading.
Samsung's profits rose in Q1, but the chip shortage looms over Q2
The Galaxy S21 is selling well and it's shifting to quantum dot TV technology.
Samsung’s newest Galaxy smartphones are selling well, boosting profits 46 percent higher than the same period last year. However, despite a net profit of 7.1 trillion won (about $6.4 billion) last quarter, the company warned investors that the next few months, and perhaps the rest of the year, the global chip shortage will significantly impact business. When it comes to TVs, Samsung didn't comment on rumors of an OLED deal with LG for next year, merely stating it would continue to focus on its quantum dot displays. Continue reading.
GM's Ultium Charge 360 project provides access to almost 60,000 EV plugs
And it installed the first 350kW fast chargers to support the Ultium platform.
GM says it has a plan to simplify the charging experience for EV owners. Under the Ultium Charge 360 project, it's working with seven charging networks (Blink Charging, ChargePoint, EV Connect, EVgo, FLO, Greenlots and SemaConnect) to give drivers "more seamless access" to almost 60,000 plugs across the US and Canada.
Mobile apps for GM vehicles will soon include real-time information for those stations and help drivers find them on their route. EV owners will be able to initiate and pay for charging through the app as well. Continue reading.
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