Discover the Most Intriguing Facts about Samsung Corporation

Samsung is not just a smartphone and electronics manufacturer. The Samsung Group encompasses 59 unlisted companies and 19 listed companies. These companies operate in various sectors ranging from construction to financial consulting services, shipbuilding, and even the healthcare industry.

Currently, Samsung has a workforce of over 489,000 individuals across 80 countries, including South Korea. Did you know: The tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, was constructed by a company under the Samsung Group.

Samsung may not have been the first manufacturer to enter the smartphone market, but it was the first company to introduce a “PDA Phone” with a color screen in the U.S. market in 2001. This device, named the SPH-i300, ran on the PalmOS operating system and operated on the Sprint network. It was much later that we saw the first version of iOS on the iPhone 2G and Android on the first-generation Samsung Galaxy phones.

Anyone who thinks that the first smartphones belonged to Apple would be surprised to see Samsung's SPH-i300. Samsung created a smartphone supporting Palm for Sprint 5 years before the iPhone was released. The SPH-i300 may look like early-generation phones, but it still featured a touchscreen design with finger-operated interface at its core.

Today, most of us are using 4G networks, with preparations underway to make 5G technology ubiquitous worldwide. However, few know that in 1996, CDMA technology was one of the fastest network technologies in the world.

The Samsung SCH-100, launched in 1996, was the first phone to utilize CDMA technology. Since CDMA was considered inferior to GSM, this was a bold move by Samsung. Nonetheless, the company deserves praise for its pioneering spirit in embracing new technologies. Samsung leads the way in research and development of innovation. It's clear that Samsung desires a continuously evolving phone with constantly improving and developing modern technologies.

Samsung once had the opportunity to acquire the startup behind the Android operating system. In the book “Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution” released in 2004, Android co-founder Fred Vogelstein revealed that the development team had traveled to South Korea to meet with Samsung's CEO to seek investment.

However, according to Android co-founder Andy Rubin, after the Android development team presented their proposal, Samsung remained silent and then indicated disbelief that the startup would succeed. Rubin stated, “They laughed us out of the boardroom.” Just two weeks later, Rubin and the Android development team sold the operating system to Google for $50 million, turning it into the world's most popular mobile operating system.

This may come as a surprise to many, but the truth is Samsung provides a diverse range of products to many of their competitors. Samsung is known for its technology in manufacturing screens, smartphone CPUs, DRAM chips, and various other components in their electronic component factories. There is much information indicating that Samsung supplies RAM, NAND flash, and OLED screens for the iPhone X.

From this, it can be estimated that Samsung earns about $110 for each iPhone X. Therefore, it can also be inferred that Samsung has provided its display panels to many other phone and TV brands worldwide. It cannot be denied that, although Samsung's business strategy is extremely risky in selling smart device components to competitors, if it brings in huge profits, it is still a good business strategy.

Although Samsung has been present in the electronics and phone market for many decades, it was in 1993 that Samsung truly began to make its mark. At that time, Samsung's Chairman Lee Kun Hee pursued a new management approach, where product quality was one of the core principles.

He encouraged employees to 'change everything except their family.' Samsung also established the Human Resources Development Center to create new training and development programs to help employees become more creative and professional.

The smartphone industry boasts many giants like Apple, Huawei, Sony, Nokia, and more. However, at present, Samsung has been crowned as the kingpin in the global smartphone industry. According to reports, Samsung churned out over 75 million smartphones in just the second quarter of 2019. And the number of smartphones reaching consumers is likely to continue rising in the foreseeable future.

This massive figure accounts for 23% of the entire smartphone market. Interestingly, Samsung has consistently been the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world for many years. In addition to the continuously increasing production volume, the popularity of Samsung phones is also growing day by day.

Samsung invests significant effort and resources into researching and developing new products. They constantly strive to innovate and update their existing products. Currently, they have 7 AI Centers and 14 R&D Centers worldwide. Samsung researches intelligent data, AI, security, next-generation imaging technology, healthcare, communications, and more. In 2018 alone, Samsung spent over $15 billion on research and development. Reports suggest that Samsung spent over $8 billion in the first half of 2019.

In response to their substantial effort and investment in technological advancement, new products, and innovative devices, Samsung Electronics holds over 330,000 patents out of 460,000 patent registrations. One of Samsung's unique patents is for devices and screens that can be rolled or folded. Samsung has also patented a smartphone with 3 screens and a round screen design.

In recent years, the concept of smartwatches has become popular with devices like the Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Gear, or Xiaomi Mi Band. However, did you know that back in 1999, Samsung created one of the first 'smartwatches,' known as the Samsung SPH-WP10? In reality, this was a wearable phone with up to 90 minutes of talk time. It featured a black-and-white LCD screen and physical buttons for navigation, and could even be voice-controlled to select contacts.

Although not successful in the market, the SPH-WP10 laid the foundation for Samsung's later creation of the Galaxy Gear. It can be said that Samsung is the company that paved the way for the strong development of today's smartwatch devices.

Samsung is known as one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers. The Samsung brand is often associated with iconic and popular products such as Samsung phones, Samsung TVs, and various other electronic devices. However, Samsung is not merely an electronics company. Samsung is a multinational conglomerate based in South Korea. Samsung has numerous subsidiaries, some of which are partially owned by Samsung, while others are wholly owned or affiliated with Samsung.

The most well-known subsidiaries include Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T Corporation, Samsung Engineering, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Heavy Industries, and more. Through these subsidiaries, Samsung is involved in various sectors of South Korea's and the world's economy. Each sector, under this multinational conglomerate, has achieved remarkable success. Nevertheless, the electronics sector has brought Samsung to a global scale!

Since its inception, Lee Byung-chul believed that the company would become a major player in the future. The name 'Samsung' was chosen to reflect this belief. Samsung is derived from the Korean words Sam (meaning 'three') and Sung (meaning 'stars'). The three-star logo used by Samsung in its early days symbolized greatness, diversity, and strength.

However, over time, Samsung's logo underwent three more changes, and it is now fixed as the blue circle with the word SAMSUNG written in white in the center as we know it today.