Today, Samsung is nothing short of a household name. It has become one of the best-known and most successful technology companies in the world, and has diversified into multiple areas of technology. Smartphones, televisions, refrigerators, washing machines – you could definitely direct a focus on Samsung technology.
But, where does this world famous tech giant come from? Where did it all start for Samsung? Well, to learn all about Samsung’s past, you’ve come to the right place.
Debut by Samsung
Samsung was founded in January 1969 as Samsung Electric Industries in South Korea. Its founder, Lee Byung-Chul, was a South Korean businessman.
The company was part of the Samsung Group, generally known to South Koreans as a company specializing in the business of fertilizers and sweeteners, a far cry from its current headquarters in the tech industry.
Samsung Electric Industries originally sold everyday necessities such as refrigerators and calculators as part of its joint venture with Sanyo, an electronics company originating in Japan in the 1940s.
Samsung Electric Industries then took another venture with NEC, another Japanese technology company, in 1970. The two companies merged to become Samsung-NEC, which later became SDI.
The two companies have collaborated in the design and production of home appliances and audiovisual devices. However, Samsung’s venture with Sanyo was still ongoing and the two companies merged to create Samsung-Sanyo Parts in 1973.
A growing success
Over the next eight years Samsung enjoyed increasing success and sold over a million black and white televisions by 1981. The Samsung Group also expanded in 1974, moving into the semiconductor market . It did so by acquiring Korea Semiconductor, a bankrupt company at the time and on the verge of bankruptcy. This eventually resulted in the creation of Samsung Semiconductor & Communication.
Samsung also founded Samsung Data Systems, now known as Samsung SDS, in 1985, which met the ever-increasing requirements of enterprises for system development.
At this point, it’s safe to say that Samsung was doing well.
The cell phone struggle
Although Samsung is known today for its excellent smartphones, they have not always been so successful in this field. In the 1980s, Samsung began to explore the mobile phone industry and launched its own mobile phone to the South Korean public in 1988.
However, Samsung failed to achieve the desired sales, with Motorola, a telecommunications company founded in 1928, already having 60% of Korea’s mobile phone market. At the time, Samsung only managed to secure a 10% stake.
This issue has persisted for Samsung for a few years, with some products notorious for poor performance and quality. It is said that the company’s management frequently considered withdrawing from the mobile phone market due to these problems.
Although Samsung is not the only company that has faced difficulties in the mobile phone industry, with brands like LG and Amazon failing entirely in such ventures, it is one of the few mobile phone companies to have exceeded expectations and reached the absolute top of the market. A key decision made this possible.
Read more: Why did LG fail with its smartphones?
It wasn’t until 1995, a few years after Samsung’s initial mobile phone launch, that it was decided that Samsung needed a new business strategy for its future. Lee Kun-hee, president of Samsung Electric Industries, pioneered this change.
It was decided that the company would focus more on modern and emerging technologies, rather than the less coveted and successful products it was selling at the time. These products were discontinued and the company invested in new technologies.
In the early years of the 21st century, Samsung continued to grow and develop as a technology company, eventually overtaking rival Sony to become the world’s twentieth-largest consumer company and most popular consumer brand overall.
The beginning of Smart
In June 2010, Samsung launched its very first smartphone: the Samsung Galaxy S. The public received the new phone well, with people comparing it to other successful Android-powered smartphones, such as the Nexus One and HTC Desire .
The Galaxy S was praised by critics and news media for its Super AMOLED display, but received some backlash for its poor GPS features and diminished performance over time.
Since the release of the Galaxy S, Samsung has created dozens of smartphones, each one surpassing the last with new system updates and specifications. Some versions have reached the absolute heights of success, including the Galaxy Note Edge.
The Galaxy Note Edge, released in 2014, was unique due to its curved screen edges. Many phones released since the first Edge have adopted this curved screen technology, including the Galaxy S8 and S9. At the time, the phone was seen as more of a concept product, but still widely released and used as inspiration for future phones.
Shortly after the release of the Note Edge, appeared the Galaxy Tab S2, a high-end digital tablet launched by Samsung in September 2015. It was hailed at the time as one of the best Samsung tablets released so far. day.
The tablet offers a 9.7 inch screen, an 8MP camera and an Octacore processor. Since the success of the Tab S2, Samsung has released even more great tablets, with its latest release being the Galaxy Tab Active3 in 2020.
Samsung has come a very long way since its first smartphone release in 2010, with its latest technological advancements enabling the release of foldable smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 2.
Both of these devices have an amazing feature that allows the screen of the smartphone to fold in half. The Fold 2 even offers a 5G screen and a screen with a resolution of 1768×2208 pixels.
AI integration
Samsung has no intention of slowing down its attempt to manufacture emerging technologies for the public, and its current interests in AI are proof of that. Samsung’s built-in AI system, Bixby, which debuted in the Galaxy S8, already offers an AI experience to users, working much like Apple’s Siri.
However, Samsung is now going deeper into the field of AI, with its attempt to integrate AI into people’s daily lives.
Samsung said it is now focusing on user experience and the benefits of using AI. Samsung will continuously try to embrace AI in its future devices, emphasizing the user rather than the AI ​​itself.
