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Category: Electronics

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Electronics news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Bose Vietnam experience makes debut with first store opening

    Bose Vietnam experience makes debut with first store opening

    Audio equipment brand Bose Vietnam has opened its first international-standard experience store, at Ho Chi Minh City’s Saigon Centre.

    Operated in partnership with Vietnamese mobile device retailer Mai Nguyen, the store offer ranges from audio devices such as headphones to home theatre systems, as well as professional equipments for restaurants, resorts and hotels.

    Christian Rojas, Southeast Asia sales director at Bose Corporation, says the brand is boosting its operation by bringing the latest equipment and designs to the store.

    Bose Vietnam debuted three years ago, through the Mai Nguyen store network.

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  • China is now the largest market for Samsung

    China is now the largest market for Samsung

    China accounted for more than 30 percent of Samsung Electronics’ overall sales over the January-June period, industry data showed Monday, emerging as the company’s largest market and outpacing the American continents for the first time.

    The South Korean tech giant, which posted sales of 83.9 trillion won ($74.6 billion) over the first six months of 2018, raked in 27.4 trillion won, or 32.7 percent, from China, the corporate data showed. It marked a sharp rise from 18.5 percent tallied in 2013.

    Asia’s top economy accounted for 20.6 percent of Samsung’s sales in 2014, with the number rising to 28.3 percent for the whole of 2017.

    In contrast to its rising dependency on the Chinese market, Samsung’s latest data sales to the Americas was equal to 26 percent of the total in the first six months of this year, falling from 31.8 percent posted for all of 2016.

    Industry watchers said the increase apparently came as Chinese tech giants’ demand for Samsung’s chips increased sharply. The U.S. government’s protectionism policies also weighed down on Samsung’s sales in the key North American market, they added.

    Samsung’s business report showed Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies was included as one of the South Korean firm’s top five clients. Other major buyers of Samsung products were Apple, Verizon Wireless, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG and Hong Kong’s Techtronics.

    The company said five firms accounted for 11 percent of its first-half sales, without providing further details. The latest list is significant as Chinese and Hong Kong firms joined the top five.

    In 2017, Samsung’s five major buyers were Apple, Best Buy, Sprint, Verizon and Deutsche Telekom.

    Experts said Samsung Electronics should take a careful approach to the Chinese market at the same time, as Beijing’s latest push to foster its own semiconductor industry may adversely impact the company.
    China accounted for more than 30 percent of Samsung Electronics’ overall sales over the January-June period, industry data showed Monday, emerging as the company’s largest market and outpacing the American continents for the first time.

    The South Korean tech giant, which posted sales of 83.9 trillion won ($74.6 billion) over the first six months of 2018, raked in 27.4 trillion won, or 32.7 percent, from China, the corporate data showed. It marked a sharp rise from 18.5 percent tallied in 2013.

    Asia’s top economy accounted for 20.6 percent of Samsung’s sales in 2014, with the number rising to 28.3 percent for the whole of 2017.

    In contrast to its rising dependency on the Chinese market, Samsung’s latest data sales to the Americas was equal to 26 percent of the total in the first six months of this year, falling from 31.8 percent posted for all of 2016.

    Industry watchers said the increase apparently came as Chinese tech giants’ demand for Samsung’s chips increased sharply. The U.S. government’s protectionism policies also weighed down on Samsung’s sales in the key North American market, they added.

    Samsung’s business report showed Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies was included as one of the South Korean firm’s top five clients. Other major buyers of Samsung products were Apple, Verizon Wireless, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG and Hong Kong’s Techtronics.

    The company said five firms accounted for 11 percent of its first-half sales, without providing further details. The latest list is significant as Chinese and Hong Kong firms joined the top five.

    In 2017, Samsung’s five major buyers were Apple, Best Buy, Sprint, Verizon and Deutsche Telekom.

    Experts said Samsung Electronics should take a careful approach to the Chinese market at the same time, as Beijing’s latest push to foster its own semiconductor industry may adversely impact the company.

    “Samsung Electronics, whose dependency on China has significantly increased, may become the victim of the irrational trade dispute between Washington and Beijing, which is ignoring the existing international system,” an industry watcher said.
    “Samsung Electronics, whose dependency on China has significantly increased, may become the victim of the irrational trade dispute between Washington and Beijing, which is ignoring the existing international system,” an industry watcher said.

  • Galaxy Note9 does better than S9 on preorder sales

    Galaxy Note9 does better than S9 on preorder sales

    Samsung Electronics latest smartphone, the Galaxy Note9, attracted more preorder sales than the Galaxy S9, released in March, mobile carriers here said Monday.

    “The number of preorders for the Galaxy Note9 is roughly 30 to 50 percent higher than the Galaxy S9,” a source from a local mobile carrier said.

    The representative added that despite the stronger numbers it is still some 80 percent of the preorder numbers for last year’s Galaxy Note8.

    The overall figure for the Note9 is viewed as being solid considering demand for the Note8 shot up due to the battery debacle of the Note7 that was released in 2016.

    Local mobile carriers will end preorders for the new smartphone on Monday, and start handing out the devices to customers on Tuesday. The official release is slated for Friday.

    The Galaxy S9, which failed to grab the market’s attention due to a lack of features compared with predecessors, has been cited as one of major hurdles that has weighed down Samsung’s mobile business.

    The Note9 is currently seeking to revitalize the IT and mobile business through its 4,000 mAh battery along with a top-notch stylus equipped with Bluetooth technology.

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  • Police seized counterfeit goods at Sim Lim Square

    Police seized counterfeit goods at Sim Lim Square

    Singaporean police have found $1.03 million worth of fake goods at Sim Lim Square.

    The counterfeit products were seized from four retail outlets in the high-profile shopping centre.

    Some 6000 pieces of trademark-infringing items including laptop power adaptors, batteries, LCD screens, power supply units, cables and earpieces were seized in the raid and three men were arrested.

    According to Criminal Investigation Department, selling or distributing goods with falsely applied trademarks can attract fines of up to $100,000, and jail terms of up to five years.

    “Police take a serious view of intellectual property right (IPR) infringements and will not hesitate to take action against perpetrators who show blatant disregard for our IPR laws and at the expense of legitimate businesses,” said Florence Chua, director and deputy commissioner of police (investigations and intelligence).

  • Best Buy surprising acquisition after years

    Best Buy surprising acquisition after years

    The surprise Best Buy acquisition of GreatCall marks the electronics retailer’s first takeover in more than six years.

    Best Buy will spend US$800 million on GreatCall, one of the US’ largest providers of communications technology aimed at helping older adults live independently and more safely in their homes.

    San Diego-based GreatCall now has 900,000 subscribers to its service, which uses mobile technology and easy-to-handle devices to connect older adults with family members or with trained call centre operators who can answer questions or call emergency personnel if necessary.

    The move marks a strategic move away from Best Buy’s core retail business at a time when electronics has become much of a commodity market with thin margins and widespread online competition.

    Neil Saunders, MD of GlobalData Retail, says the investment marks “a logical evolution” for the company.

    “Over recent years there have been significant changes to the electronics market, including fierce competition from the rise of online. However, Best Buy has successfully navigated this new landscape – in large part because it has adapted its proposition and approach.

    One of the main changes has been the move from simply selling products to trying to help consumers select and get the best use out of new devices. In a sense, Best Buy now sees its role as helping consumers to improve their lives through technology.”

    Saunders says GreatCall gives Best Buy a relevant service, driven by technology, that it can offer to consumers.

    “In our view, it also helps counterbalance the pressure on both sales growth and margins of electronics products. The focus on health, and in particular health services aimed at the elderly, puts Best Buy squarely into a market with high demand and strong growth. Moreover, we see this as a good fit as Best Buy is a known and trusted brand name among older shoppers. This should enable the company to grow the GreatCall service.”

    Saunders said that long term, the move should be seen as part of Best Buy’s continued adaptation to a provider of services rather than a pure retailer of things.

  • Apple Japan will open its ninth store

    Apple Japan will open its ninth store

    Apple Japan is about to open its ninth retail store.

    The new Apple Kyoto shop will commence trading at 10am on August 25, according to a video in Japanese on the company’s Youtube account. It will be the first in Kyoto city, which is on Honshu Island. Previous Apple Japan stores have opened in Osaka, Fukuoka, Aichi, Miyagi and, of course, Tokyo.

    To mark the opening of the Apple Kyoto store, the tech company has created a new wallpaper downloadable online.

    Apple Kyoto is located on the first floor of the recently opened Kyoto Zero Gate building, adjacent to the Daimaru Kyoto department store and opposite well-known Shinjo Street.

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  • China’s Gome set to open in India

    China’s Gome set to open in India

    Chinese electronics retailer Gome is to expand into India.

    The move will involve opening a manufacturing centre in India in order to sell its locally made branded products on the Indian market, which will include appliances, smartphones, and televisions to be sold through multi-brand outlets and online.

    It has already revealed plans to launch three competitively priced smartphones to catch the upcoming festive season in the target region.

    The new firm will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Gome Telecom Equipment, which is part of Hong Kong’s Gome Retail Holdings. Gome Group’s headquarters are based in Beijing.

  • Vietnam’s VinFast in deal with Siemens for technology to make electric buses

    Vietnam’s VinFast in deal with Siemens for technology to make electric buses

    VinFast Trading and Production LLC has signed two contracts with Siemens Vietnam, a unit of Siemens AG.

    The contracts involve the supply of technology and components to manufacture electric buses in the Southeast Asian country.

    VinFast, a unit of Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate, Vingroup JSC, said on Monday the deals will enable it to launch the first electric bus by the end of 2019.

    “Electric buses are an essential element of sustainable urban public transportation systems,” Siemens Vietnam President and CEO Pham Thai Lai said in the statement.

    VinFast will also produce electric motorcycles, electric cars and gasoline cars from its $1.5-billion factory being built in Haiphong City, it said.

    In June, General Motors Co agreed to transfer its Vietnamese operation to VinFast, which will also exclusively distribute GM’s Chevrolet cars in Vietnam.

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  • Samsung vows to invest ＄161B by 2021

    Samsung vows to invest ＄161B by 2021

    Samsung announced Wednesday it will spend 180 trillion won (＄160.7 billion) and hire 40,000 more employees over the next three years to drive growth – an unprecedentedly ambitious plan from Korea’s biggest conglomerate.

    The 180 trillion won includes capital expenditures and research and development, and some 130 trillion won – 43.3 trillion won on annual average – will be dedicated to the domestic market, which Samsung said would indirectly create 700,000 more jobs.

    The annual figure is in line with the 43.4 trillion won Samsung spent on new facilities last year.

    The remaining 50 trillion won in investments is speculated to be earmarked for mergers and acquisitions as well as foreign manufacturing facilities.

    The pledge of 40,000 new jobs is meant to give jobs to young Koreans, the group explained. Korea is struggling with the worst youth unemployment rate in its history. The number of new jobs created by Samsung over the past three years was between 20,000 and 25,000.

    “Today’s announcement follows many months of deliberation and review by the management and board of directors of different Samsung companies that will make the investments, including Samsung Electronics,” Samsung said in a statement.

    The investments are divided into two categories. One is to sustain the company’s leadership in semiconductors and displays.

    “In addition to investments for memory products, spending will be dedicated to non-memory products and new advanced manufacturing equipment,” Samsung said. Developing profitable and new products will be the focus in displays, amid rising competition in the industry.

    The second category is to search for new growth engines. A total of 25 trillion won will go into four specific areas: artificial intelligence (AI), 5G telecommunications, automotive electronics components and biopharmaceuticals.

    The plan to invest 180 trillion won exceeds a widely expected figure of 100 trillion won. Samsung was supposed to announce its investment and hiring plans on Monday when Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon visited its Pyeongtaek campus in Gyeonggi and met with its de facto chairman, Lee Jae-yong. But Samsung delayed the announcement at the last minute after stories were published that accused the government of “begging” for investments from conglomerates.

    Samsung’s ambitious plan does follow a request from President Moon Jae-in. In mid-July, the president directly asked Lee to “invest more locally and create more jobs” when the two met at a ceremony in India to mark the completion of Samsung’s biggest smartphone factory in the world.

    Wednesday’s announcement made clear Samsung’s industrial focus for the next few years. Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, now bedridden, used to declare Samsung’s growth drivers every several years. In 2010, four years before he had an incapacitating stroke, Samsung named medical equipment, biopharmaceuticals, solar batteries, auto batteries and light-emitting diodes as its growth drivers, estimating they would generate 50 trillion won in annual revenue by 2020.

    In Wednesday’s announcement, Samsung changed its focus to AI and 5G connectivity that will create new opportunities in autonomous driving, the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics. The top chaebol had already vowed to significantly expand its AI research capability, increasing its number of advanced AI researchers to 1,000. Becoming a global player in advanced markets for 5G chipsets and related devices and equipment is also on Samsung’s road map for the future.

    Samsung aims to become a leader in electronics components for future cars such as system on chip (SoC) semiconductors for autonomous driving, using its leadership in semiconductor, telecommunications and display technologies.

    In biopharmaceuticals, the group said it has seen strong growth in both contract manufacturing and the biosimilar businesses, promising to invest heavily to combat chronic and difficult-to-cure diseases.

    Following the upbeat statement on Samsung’s biopharmaceutical ambitions – despite a recent scandal over suspected accounting fraud – shares of Samsung BioLogics shot up 7.08 percent to close at 454,000 won Wednesday.

    Peaking at 600,000 won in April, the shares nose-dived to as low as 353,000 won early May after the Financial Supervisory Service started auditing it for accounting irregularities.

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  • DJI x LINE launches character-branded drone

    DJI x LINE launches character-branded drone

    Shenzhen-headquartered tech firm DJI has released of a Line Friends drone, its first character-branded device.

    The move is expected to be a step towards making the technology more accessible to a wider audience. The miniature camera drone depicts the popular character Brown, and is small enough to lift off from the palm, with a photo-taking capacity of 12 megapixels and 1080p stabilised video capture. The Line Friends drone has the distinctive feature of being able to be controlled with hand gestures.

    DJI’s senior communication manager Monica Suk said, “The DJI Spark earned its reputation as the smallest, yet powerful flying camera. It made flying a drone extremely easy, fun and more personalised. Similar to other things we carry in our bags, a drone is becoming a lifestyle accessory.

    “This special edition Line Friends drone will take this concept even further and make storytelling and sharing exciting, and a part of our everyday life.”

    The Line Friends drone (Brown) Spark RC Combo is selling at US$399 in North America, China, Hong Kong and Korea.

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  • Apple is now a $1 trillion company

    Apple is now a $1 trillion company

    Apple has become the first US company with a market cap of more than US$1 trillion overnight, with a jump in stock prices pushing the company past the historic milestone.

    Following the tech giants Q3 earnings report in which it found a quarterly revenue of US$53.3 billion, the “best June quarter ever, and our fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth”, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, stock prices jumped from approximately US$190 to approximately US$200, continuing to climb to a high of US$207.

    The large jump was enough to push the company over the line faster than Amazon, which is on track to reach a US$1 trillion market cap soon, currently sitting at approximately US$885 billion.

    Given the nature of the stock market, it is entirely possible the company will fluctuate below and above US$1 trillion mark, but the feather is now well in Apple’s cap.

    The company is not the world’s first US$1 trillion company though, with PetroChina having briefly reached the coveted position in 2007.

  • Morphy Richards starts selling in South Korea

    Morphy Richards starts selling in South Korea

    London-based household appliance maker Morphy Richards has launched in the South Korean market.

    The heritage brand hopes to find a niche in a country dominated by global electronics giants via its local distributor M&S Solution, which already hosts an appliances e-commerce platform. It will expand the distribution channel to Korean department stores, electronics stores and TV home shopping.

    An official from Morphy Richards said the British appliance maker will work hard to win the hearts of South Korean consumers with its “outstanding technology and brand popularity built over more than 80 years”.

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  • Half of smartphones sold in 2018 will have AI assistant

    Half of smartphones sold in 2018 will have AI assistant

    Half of smartphones sold globally this year will have an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, a report by an industry consulting firm showed Sunday.

    According to Strategy Analytics (SA), 47.7 percent of smartphones sold on the global market in 2018 will be equipped with some kind of on-device AI assistant, up from 36.6 percent last year.

    The report further finds that on-device AI is growing fast among smartphone vendors and by 2023, 89.9 percent of smartphones will have a built-in AI assistant.

    In 2017, Google Assistant rose to be the top AI assistant with a 46.7 percent market share, followed by Apple’s Siri with 40.1 percent, it said.

    The report said the market share of Google’s AI assistant is expected to climb to 51.3 percent this year and 60.6 percent by 2023.

  • LG gets fancy with new Signature smartphone

    LG gets fancy with new Signature smartphone

    LG Electronics is rolling out a limited-edition luxury smartphone that costs nearly 2 million won ($1,790).

    The smartphone under the Signature brand name – a second edition after an earlier model released last December – will be available for preorder for two weeks starting today and begin offline sales in Korea on Aug. 13. It will carry a price tag of 1,999,800 won and only 300 units will be available. Signature is LG’s brand of top-notch home appliances including refrigerators and washing machines.

    The pricey phone, based on the form factor of their V35 flagship smartphone, is wrapped in Zirconium Ceramic, a special material that cannot be scratched. The highly sophisticated material is difficult to manufacture and is typically used for luxury watches. The device, with 256 gigabytes of storage and 6 gigabytes RAM, runs on the Android Oreo operating system.

    “We will provide extraordinary value not only in terms of functions but also design and after-sales services,” said Choi Sang-gyu, head of domestic sales at LG Electronics.

    Prospective users will have to buy the phone first – either online or at offline stores run by LG – and then find a mobile operator to subscribe to, as the device won’t sell directly through any of Korea’s three carriers.

    Customers can have their name engraved on the back of the device or on a leather case. Beoplay H9i wireless over-ear headphones, worth as much as 700,000 won, come with the phone.

    The first generation sold out at the end of last year and LG says it found potential in the hyper-premium market.

  • Vingroup to take over Vien Thong A

    Vingroup to take over Vien Thong A

    Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup’s electronics retailing arm VinPro is set to acquire mobile retail chain Vien Thong A next month.

    A source said that staff have been informed about the deal, and a merger process has commenced.

    However, Vien Thong A’s vice GM Huynh Viet Anh responded to a question about the report’s accuracy: “That can not be disclosed now.”

    Vien Thong A is one of the largest mobile device retailers in Vietnam. Founded in 1997, tit has 200 stores across the country.

    The deal is said to have been on and off since early this year, before being deferred to the second quarter. According to the report, VinPro, which has 35 outlets nationwide, would buy 71 per cent of Vien Thong A, and rebrand its stores to VinPro+.

    VinGroup, meanwhile, recently unveiled its first smartphone, branded the Vsmart.

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