The Galaxy A9 just cleared the FCC listing in a recent turn of events. This means that we will most likely see an announcement soon as that’s what happens when a device passes through the FCC certification. It was previously revealed that the Galaxy A9 would pack a 6-inch Full HD display and a 13MP rear camera, along with a Snapdragon 620 processor, 3GB of RAM, a fingerprint scanner and Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. What’s impressive about this device is that it’s expected to have very good battery life given that it boasts a 4,000 mAh battery unit.

We already know what the Galaxy A9 will look like thanks to a video posted very recently. An interesting characteristic of the Galaxy A9 is that it has the same metal and glass build as Samsung’s flagship devices. We expect the Galaxy A9 to be unveiled sometime in the next couple of weeks, probably around the same time CES will kick off.

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Christmas is almost here, and Samsung is offering a nice little gift for prospective Galaxy Note 5 consumers in its home country – a Galaxy Note 5 Winter Special Edition that comes with 128GB of internal storage. The special edition will be sold through carriers SKT and KT for a price of 999,900 won (roughly $850), in Gold Platinum and Silver Titanium color options.

Samsung took away expandable storage from its flagships this year, and with the Note 5 and S6 edge+, the company also did away with a 128GB storage model. It was a bad move for consumers who need all the space they need on their phones and can’t depend on the cloud, and this special edition for South Korean consumers is likely to disappoint those who had to settle for the 64GB model of Samsung’s best flagship yet.

Samsung is also offering numerous Christmas deals in the country. Galaxy Note 5 buyers will get a free fast wireless charger, while Galaxy S6 and S6 edge+ buyers get a free Gear VR. That 128GB Galaxy Note 5 is still the huge takeaway though, and we guess it’s a good thing the Galaxy S7 might bring back that revered microSD slot, don’t you think?

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Samsung has a habit of launching new color options which are limited to select markets for its flagship handsets and that’s precisely what it has done now. The company has introduced a new color option for the Galaxy S6 edge+ in China which actually looks really good, and is a good alternative to launch colors which include Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Silver Titan and White Pearl.

Customers in China can now purchase the Galaxy S6 edge+ in Pink Gold, this color option is limited to China for now, and there’s no confirmation as yet if this Pink Gold color option will be offered in other markets as well where the Galaxy S6 edge+ is sold. So it looks like if you really want one in Pink Gold right now you’ll have to import it from the People’s Republic.

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Samsung’s mobile payment service was unveiled earlier this year and it went live in the United States and South Korea a few months back. We have known for a while now that over the next few months this service will be expanded to other markets across the globe with China being one of them. We did exclusively report last month that Samsung Pay will be launched in China by Q1 2016 and today it has been confirmed by the company that Samsung Pay will go live in China in “early 2016.”

This has been made possible by cooperation between Samsung and China UnionPay, one of the biggest card issuers in the country, UnionPay card holders will thus be able to manage and use credit as well as debit cards with Samsung Pay as long as they have a supported smartphone. Contactless payments powered by Samsung Pay will be accepted at most of the POS terminals in the country, including Quick Pass-enabled NFC POS terminals. The company will work with China UnionPay to ensure secure transaction with triple-layered protection which includes fingerprint authentication, tokenization and KNOX.

Samsung points out that this technology complies with China’s national mobile payment and financial industry standards, it will soon go through relevant test and certification procedure that’s required by regulators in China before the official rollout to UnionPay cardholders in early 2016. It will have competition though because Apple also announced today that Apple Pay is coming to China early next year as well.

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A new research report pegs smartphone shipments in Q3 2015 at 331.9 million units registering a 7.7% year-over-year increase. Sequentially the gains made between July through September 2015 represent a 10.5% increase over the previous quarter. Samsung managed to retain its dominance in the global smartphone market during the third quarter.

The report mentions that Samsung accounted for 25.6% of all global smartphone shipments in the third quarter of this year, it’s followed by Apple in second place with 14.5%. Huawei came in third with 7.4% with Lenovo and LG closing out the top five with 4.8% and 4.5% market share respectively. It’s expected that smartphone shipments in the current quarter will peak at 396.8 million units, registering a 20% sequential gain and a 10.1% year-over-year increase. In all, global smartphone shipments for the year 2015 are expected to reach 1.326 billion units.

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Samsung has released an updated self-help app, Samsung+, in the Google Play Store. It basically helps new smartphone users in exploring more about their Galaxy smartphone or tablet with the help of tips, tricks, how-to videos, and top app recommendations. The app is available only for customers owning Samsung Galaxy devices in the US right now.

The app also features one-touch access to Samsung’s customer support through a video or voice call. There are hands-on workshops that people can use to get more out of their Galaxy device. To top that up, Samsung will also feature exclusive promotions and deals on Samsung products as well as exclusive music and behind-the-scene videos.

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Author: All credits for this post go to Asif S. @ sammobile.com
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For a long time, third-party keyboard apps were extremely important for Android users, as the out-of-the-box keyboard apps from manufacturers were, in one word, horrible. Swype kicked off the game with a keyboard that lets you swipe over letters to make a word for faster typing than regular touch input, then SwiftKey came along with an excellent prediction engine and pretty much became the top choice for millions of Android users.

This year, Samsung has overhauled its software in many ways, and along for the ride on the new TouchWiz came an improved out-of-the-box keyboard app. Unlike the previous iterations, the latest version of Samsung’s keyboard is very nice, with all the features you would expect in a keyboard app these days. There’s next word prediction, auto-correction, and swipe input, and all of it works quite well. The keyboard looks nice, too, and the always visible numerical keys at the top make typing in numbers a very quick affair (this comes especially handy when you’re typing in passwords that have both letters and numbers.)

But it took years for Samsung to overhaul the TouchWiz keyboard, and long-time users of Android are no doubt so used to their favorite third-party keyboard apps that they probably didn’t wait a second to replace Samsung’s keyboard as soon as they set up their new device. But for most users, what comes preloaded is often the thing they use forever, and this poll is to ask SamMobile readers a simple question: Do you use the default TouchWiz keyboard on your phone or tablet (one bought in 2015)?

Let us know by voting below, and be leaving a comment in the comments section!

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Author: All credits for this post go to Abhijeet M. @ sammobile.com
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Samsung has a plethora of phones and tablets in its lineup, and regularly releases firmware updates for various devices. These can include major updates, which bring a newer version of the OS to a particular device, or minor ones that improve performance and stability and fix bugs. Software updates for Samsung devices roll out in various regions every day, and you can find out which firmware updates were pushed out by the company over the last 24 hours through our firmware list.

As usual, you can download each of these firmware from our firmware section (simply enter your device’s model number to view all firmware for that device) in order to update to a new firmware manually, or as a means to return to your phone or tablet’s stock software.

Author: All credits for this post go to Abhijeet M. @ sammobile.com
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Samsung has a plethora of phones and tablets in its lineup, and regularly releases firmware updates for various devices. These can include major updates, which bring a newer version of the OS to a particular device, or minor ones that improve performance and stability and fix bugs. Software updates for Samsung devices roll out in various regions every day, and you can find out which firmware updates were pushed out by the company over the last 24 hours through our firmware list.

As usual, you can download each of these firmware from our firmware section (simply enter your device’s model number to view all firmware for that device) in order to update to a new firmware manually, or as a means to return to your phone or tablet’s stock software.

Author: All credits for this post go to Abhijeet M. @ sammobile.com
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Earlier this year in September a football match between Portuguese teams FC Porto and S.L. Benfica was broadcasted live to the world in virtual reality using a multi-camera setup which had 360-degree cameras placed on in the bleachers and on the pitch. The very next month Samsung brought the live virtual reality experience to Portugal’s Supertubos Beach and now it has turned its attention towards music by broadcasting a rock concert live in virtual reality.

Samsung broadcasted The Gift’s highly anticipated concert which took place yesterday in Lisbon, Portugal. The concert celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary and also happened to be the first direct transmission in Portugal of a musical performance in VR. A two camera system was used which provided viewers the choice of either watching the show from the front row or from the stage right alongside the band. Users from all over the world tuned into the live broadcast, after all, they only needed a compatible smartphone with the Gear VR and the IM360 VR app to tune in.

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Samsung recently added support for 19 additional credit and debit card issuers in the US as well as an ability to use Gift Cards with its mobile payment service. Now, Samsung has released an update to the Samsung Pay app that brings improvements to existing features as well as improved performance.

This update has been marked as mandatory by Samsung, and it has also been mentioned that users need to “[install this] update by December 27 to avoid any service interruptions.” The update also brings improved UI for Gift Cards, optimized memory usage, and improvements to notifications.

Additionally, there seems to be an new option, which is turned off by default, to receive marketing information such as special offers, membership benefits, and newsletters from Samsung Pay partners. Did you receive this update on your Samsung Pay compatible device?

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Samsung just gave us a nice hint that it could soon roll out Android 6.0 to one of its devices, as the company’s SideSync app – which lets users share their phone or tablet screen with a PC – has received an update that makes it compatible with the latest version of the OS. The changelog even goes as far as saying that two of the improvements will take effect “after Android 6.0″, so we are keeping our fingers crossed here and hoping we soon see Marshmallow hit a Samsung device.

These post-Android 6.0 improvements are better file transfer and the addition of a video player. Other changes include improved usability, an option to enable saving files to user-defined folders, and a couple others related to notification and “Wep address share” URLs. The new version of the app is available on the Play Store and from the Galaxy Apps store (though the latter isn’t showing the new changes yet.) Go grab it.

Author: All credits for this post go to Abhijeet M. @ sammobile.com
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India’s prominent e-commerce giant Flipkart is conducting an year-end sale in the country, and a lot of products are being sold with discounts. The Galaxy On5 and the Galaxy On7, which were launched in India last month exclusively through Flipkart, are being sold with a discount of $15 on each for a limited period of time. However, the discount can be claimed only if you purchase through Flipkart’s smartphone or tablet app.

The Galaxy On5 features a 5-inch HD LCD display, an Exynos 3475 quad-core processor, an 8-megapixel primary camera, and a 2,600 mAh battery. The Galaxy On7 comes equipped with a 5.5-inch HD LCD display, an octa-core Exynos 7580 processor, a 13-megapixel primary camera, and a 3,000 mAh battery.

Also Read: Galaxy On5 and On7 Review: Samsung’s budget phones still have too many limitations

Both these smartphones come with 1.5GB RAM, 8GB ROM, microSD card slot, dual-SIM card slot with LTE connectivity, and they run a newer version of TouchWiz that’s based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. Extra features include free music streaming through MixRadio and the Ultra Data Saving mode. These smartphones were already priced cheaply, and this discount makes the deal even sweeter.

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Author: All credits for this post go to Asif S. @ sammobile.com
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It’s been more than two months since Google published the final code for Android 6.0 Marshmallow and released it for Nexus devices, and there’s no doubt we Samsung device owners have been getting more and more impatient as we wait for the Korean giant to bring Marshmallow to its users. Samsung has done a lot to turn its software experience around this year, and the T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 Marshmallow leak suggests it is also working on bringing newer versions of Android to its devices as quickly as possible.

This year, we saw four major flagships from Samsung – the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, and the Galaxy Note 5. As tradition would go, we expect the latest flagship to get the latest Android update first. That would be the Galaxy S6 edge+ or the Galaxy Note 5; it could even be both, as Samsung has brought every minor update to the two devices at the same time since their launch. But with so many changes permeating Samsung’s mobile lineup, it’s possible it could go against the trend and update the original Galaxy S6 or S6 edge to Marshmallow before bringing the goodness to the Note 5 and S6 edge+.

Which brings us to the question we want to ask you, our readers: Which Samsung phone do you think will be the first to get Android 6.0? Let us know through the poll below, and leave a comment in the comment section!

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Author: All credits for this post go to Abhijeet M. @ sammobile.com
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Rumors concerning Samsung’s entrance into the hearing aid market have been circling around for quite a while. Now, information from different sources suggest the first device with model number SM-R790 is nearing its official launch.

A few weeks ago, Samsung applied for registration of a trademark for the term Earcle in South Korea, with several references to hearing aids in its related products description. Today, a device with model number SM-R790 has surfaced at the Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s (SIG) database. The device’s description clearly states Samsung Bluetooth Hearing Aid, leaving very little to our imagination.

On top of all this, Samsung has been patenting specific hearing aid software features, such as a – as it’s called in one particular patent – Sound Radar, where the user can select the sound source to be boosted using a smartphone application with a radar-like interface. Of course, whether such functionality comes with the soon to be launched SM-R790 remains to be seen.

For now, it is clear that Samsung will soon enter the hearing aid market, in one form or another, as the Bluetooth SIG lists the device as an end product.

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Author: All credits for this post go to Michel G. @ sammobile.com
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With Samsung reducing the time between the launch of its flagships with the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+, everyone has been expecting the Galaxy S7 to make an early launch as well. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently reported that the Galaxy S7 will hit retail sometime in mid-March, and Chinese carrier China Mobile has now reiterated a March release for the next Samsung flagship.

WSJ’s reports are usually spot-on, and given China is usually among the first markets to get a new Samsung device, we believe this is as good an indication as any that the Galaxy S7 will be available from stores in the third month of 2016. That would be soon after the rumored February 21 announcement, though it remains to be seen if the Galaxy S7 will come out as quickly after an official unveil as the Galaxy Note 5 or Galaxy S6 edge+ did in August this year.

The Galaxy S7 is shaping up to be quite an interesting flagship. Recent rumors suggest it will come with a pressure-sensing touchscreen (ala Apple’s 3D Touch), a retina scanner, and the powerful Snapdragon 820/Exynos 8890 processor. Samsung is also reportedly focusing on making the software faster and more fluid than iOS, with Google engineers said to be helping the Korean giant in achieving that goal. The microSD slot is tipped to be making a return as well.

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Samsung has a plethora of phones and tablets in its lineup, and regularly releases firmware updates for various devices. These can include major updates, which bring a newer version of the OS to a particular device, or minor ones that improve performance and stability and fix bugs. Software updates for Samsung devices roll out in various regions every day, and you can find out which firmware updates were pushed out by the company over the last 24 hours through our firmware list.

As usual, you can download each of these firmware from our firmware section (simply enter your device’s model number to view all firmware for that device) in order to update to a new firmware manually, or as a means to return to your phone or tablet’s stock software.

Author: All credits for this post go to Abhijeet M. @ sammobile.com
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It was only in the most recent quarter that Samsung showed considerable improvement, over the past few quarters the company’s cash cow has largely been its semiconductor business, but capital market analysts now predict that the good run this business has had might be nearing its end. Samsung Electronics is now predicted to post 6 trillion won ($5.1 billion) in operating profit in the fourth quarter largely due to a noticeable drop in semiconductor sales, the figure is short of previous market forecasts.

It was previously claimed that Samsung’s operating profit for the fourth quarter will stand at 6.95 trillion won ($5.9 billion), the new forecast is down some 500 billion won ($424.63 million) from the average forecast of 6.74 trillion won ($5.73 billion). Several securities firm now have similar expectations, these include Samsung Securities Co., Mirae Asset Securities Co., Kyobo Securities Co., among others. Samsung doesn’t usually comment on analyst predictions about its numbers so it’s unlikely to respond to this, but nevertheless it’s going to be worrying for investors, who have already seen Samsung stock shed quite a bit of its value over the past 12 months.

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The South Korean chip giant Samsung already makes processors for companies like Apple and Nvidia. Now, it is being reported that it might start manufacturing CPUs for AMD next year. According to the Electronic Times, Samsung’s chip manufacturing arm and Global Foundries will jointly start producing a central processing chip for AMD in 2016.

The report, which cites unnamed sources, claims that this chip will be based on the company’s 14nm fabrication technology. Samsung already uses this 14nm FinFET technology to make its homegrown Exynos 7420 SoC, which is being used in its flagship smartphones like the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 as well as in some devices from Meizu.

Due to decline in profits from its smartphone business, the company is trying to increase the client base of its components business. TSMC is jointly manufacturing Apple’s A9 chipset along with Samsung. It was reported a few months ago that A9 chips made by TSMC is slightly more energy efficient than the one made by Samsung.

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Is Samsung finally taking the software update business seriously? It certainly seems so, as the Korean giant has launched a beta testing program for the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. Those using either device from carriers KT and LG U+ will be allowed to take part, with Samsung saying it wants to enhance the software experience by taking real-world usage into account.

It’s a welcome step from Samsung, a company that has been notorious for releasing software updates that cause major issues on existing devices. Taking feedback from users will be a large help to the company in making sure Android 6.0 works as well as it does once it arrives on its smartphones. It’s unclear if the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ will also be part of the beta testing program; they probably will be, though the similar hardware on all four devices means Samsung could get away with testing the updated software on only the original Galaxy S6 lineup.

Samsung Netherlands tells us there is currently no plan for such a program in Europe, suggesting this is exclusive to Samsung’s home country for now. Galaxy S6 and S6 edge users can download the Galaxy Care app from the Galaxy Apps store or the Play Store to apply for the beta test. The program will apparently go on till January 18th, which can be taken as a sign that the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge won’t be receiving the Marshmallow update at least until late January.

What do you think about Samsung’s latest move to make its software as good as can be?

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