12 Amazing FACTS about SAMSUNG
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| Amazing FACTS about SAMSUNG |
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The South Korean company has over time become the world’s most popular smartphone manufacturer but it’s pretty much like a big brother who’s into many aspects of our life. They’re into aeronautics, TVs and so much more. Nobody needs to tell you that Samsung is undergoing a tough time as a result of the humongous loss from the Note 7 incident: forced to abandon production of the flagship Note7 following a double whammy quality assurance failure, it had to settle for a significant loss and a tarnished reputation
Here are 12 amazing and funny facts about Samsung that not many people know about..
# FACTS 1: Origin of Samsung
Lee Byung-Chul was one of the most successful businessmen in the history of South Korea. It was 1938, he founded a company in then Japanese Korea named ‘Samsung Sanghoe’. The company consisted of 40 employees at the time.
Later, Lee Byung-Chul left Seoul because of the Korean War. And, he started to diversify his company. He tried his hands on many industries including sugar refinery, woolen mills, fishing, etc.
Its success, however, didn’t come by chance or accident. The company was established in 1938 under the name “Samsung Sanghoe” and had no claim as it produced and sold noodles. Many years later, it became one of the largest conglomerates in the country, branching out into other product divisions (Samsung Electronics being the most popular). With almost 80 years in business, you would suspect that it had a lot of experience.
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| Samsung is a brand with a long history. Photo: Reuters. |
# FACTS 2: The name was destined for success
You probably know that brand names are never chosen by accident, whatever the nationality of the business. While the American company Nike was inspired by the Greek goddess Niké (Goddess of Victory) to demonstrate their desire to break into the market, “Samsung” is comprised of a combination of meanings: Sam (three) and Sung (stars).
From a western point of view, we have the tendency to associate stars with success. In Korea, it’s a little more complicated than that as the stars are references to three celestial Chinese Gods (this concept had been imported to Korea) who represent glory, luck, and longevity.
# FACTS 3: Samsung Started as a Trading Company
We know Samsung for manufacturing and supplying mobile and electronic devices. But Samsung actually started as a trading company. The company would trade noodles, local groceries, and dried-fish back in 1938.
# FACTS 4: The marketing budget is colossal
Samsung owes its popularity to several factors. On one hand, it was present at the birth of smartphones and succeeded in gaining a loyal clientele, leading a large number of them towards their mid-range, or indeed high-end, products. On the other hand, Samsung invested enormously into marketing/publicity. You’ve probably already seen posters at a bus stop or a TV advertisement.
We know that Samsung invested enormous amounts of money into Research & Development (more than 14 billion dollars in 2015) The marketing budget is also phenomenal. Coming in at 3.3 billion in 2016 which placed Samsung in the top 20 largest budgets, just after Nike. Out of all the big names in the smartphone world, only Sony has a larger budget (3.7 billion dollars).
# FACTS 5: The CEO says it how it is
Samsung’s reputation at the end of the last century was similar to Chinese smartphones today: Quantity over quality. Lee Kun-hee came out with iconic phrases like “Change everything except your wife and children”. Things greatly improved, particularly within Samsung Electronics (unless you take into account the Note 7 scandal).
In 1995, he was so exasperated by the lack of quality in mobile phones that he set fire to billions of devices in front of the employees who were gathered especially for the spectacle. Today, they go on fire all by themselves, but that’s enough about that.
# FACTS 6: Samsung was responsible for the construction of the largest monument in the world
Have you heard of the Burj Khalifa tower? It can be found in Dubai and represents nothing less than the largest structure ever constructed by man, 828 meters tall in fact. Do you know who helped to construct this tower? Yes, it was Samsung.
Of course, it wasn't Samsung Electronics but Samsung C&T Corporation, a branch specializing in fashion, commerce, and construction (yes it’s difficult to find any links between those sectors). As you can imagine, it was a huge project for the Korean giant, especially because it had to largely work with project partners, but it should be proud of the result.
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| Here’s the Samsung tower in 2008. Photo: Wikimedia |
# FACTS 7: Samsung manufactures components for Apple
Samsung uses its experience to help some other companies, in particular, its biggest competitor: Apple. Despite two giants being in direct competition, it doesn’t stop them from working together. Samsung produces SSDs for Macs and a team also takes care of manufacturing Retina screens for iPads, if you believe Bloomberg. Apple’s lack of transparency doesn’t help when trying to obtain precise, reliable information, but it’s possible that Samsung still produces other components for its rival
After all, Samsung Mobile-only comprises just over 30% of Samsung Electronics’ revenue, so there’s no harm in diversifying to earn a little more money.
# FACTS 8: The Best Selling Smartphone from Samsung
Samsung has released hundreds and thousands of smartphones over the years. But there is a phone that broke all the sales records. It was the Samsung Galaxy S4. This smartphone was released back in 2013. And, it was sold about 80 million units all over the world.
For that reason, it is now Samsung’s best selling smartphone of all time. Also, it is the best selling Android OS based phone as well. And, compared to all the other smartphones, it is the 3rd best-selling smartphone in the world ever. The first two places go to Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and Nokia 5230.
# FACTS 9: The Best Selling Phone from Samsung
Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S4 might be their best-selling ‘Smartphone’ yet. But it is not their best selling phone overall. Matter of fact that crown goes to the Samsung E1110. It was a feature phone released in 2009. But the phone was discontinued from 2012.
Still, within this period, the Samsung E1110 was sold over 150 million units all around the world. For that reason, it is also the 8th best-selling mobile phone in the world of all time.
# FACTS 10: Samsung & The World’s Largest Oil & Gas Project
As we previously mentioned Samsung doesn’t only produce smartphones and TVs. they are also known for working on different major construction sites. For instance, Samsung has taken over the Sakhalin-II project. It is known as the world’s largest oil and gas project under construction in Russia.
They are constructing the topside facilities of the ‘Lunskoye platform’ in the ‘Samsung Heavy’ shipyard in South Korea. Samsung will also build the world’s first and the biggest floating liquefied natural gas platform for the ‘Royal Dutch Shell’. When this construction project will finish, it will be the world’s largest ship.
# FACTS 11: Samsung is Not Only An Electronics Company
Typically, we all know Samsung as one of the largest electronics manufacturing companies in the world. However, Samsung is not primarily an electronic company. It is a multinational conglomerate from South Korea. Here, the word ‘Conglomerate’ refers to a company that is comprised of many subsidiary companies.
Samsung has numerous subsidiaries. Among them, some companies are partially owned by Samsung. While some are affiliated or fully owned by Samsung.
The most known ones are Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T Corporation, Samsung Engineering, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, and Samsung Heavy Industries, etc. So, if you thought Samsung only manufactures TVs, smartphones, or other electronic devices, then you are mistaken.
# FACTS 12: The World’s First CDMA Phone
At the moment, most of us might have access to 4G. Also, 5G networking technology is on the verge of becoming mainstream in most parts of the world. However, back in 1996, CDMA technology was one of the fastest networking technology.
And, it was Samsung that used CDMA on one of their phones.
The Samsung Stunt SCH-100 was the first phone in the world to feature CDMA technology.
Profile of Lee Kun-hee, Who Built Samsung Into a Global GiantLee Kun-hee was born in Daegu, in Japanese-occupied Korea, on Jan. 9, 1942, to Park Doo-eul and Lee Byung-chull, who had founded Samsung a few years earlier as an exporter of fruit and dried fish. When Mr. Lee took the helm at Samsung Group in 1987, after the death of his father and the conglomerate’s founder, Lee Byung-chull, many in the West knew the group’s electronics unit only as a maker of cheap televisions and unreliable microwaves sold in discount stores, as written in NYT. Lee-Kun-hee pushed the company relentlessly up the technological ladder. By the early 1990s, Samsung had surpassed Japanese and American rivals to become a pacesetter in memory chips. It came to dominate flat-panel displays as screens lost their bulk. And it conquered the middle-to-high end of the mobile market as cellphones became powerhouse computing devices in the 2000s. Samsung Electronics today is a cornerstone of South Korea’s economy and one of the world’s top corporate spenders on research and development. Mr. Lee had been incapacitated since a heart attack in 2014. On October 25, he was reported to pass away at age 78 with his family, including Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, by his side at Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul. |
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