Samsung Electronics announced its first quarter revenues of 52.87 trillion won ($47.6 billion) for the quarter ending March 31, 2013. This is a six percent decrease from last quarter. Operating profit was reported at $7.9 billion, a one percent decline quarter-over-quarter from last year’s Q1.
The report, available in a handy PDF, states that the IT and Mobile Communications Division brought in $29.5 billion of that profit, however, which represents a seven percent increase from last quarter.
A new update is making its way to Samsung Galaxy S III handsets on Sprint this week. In addition to fixing a lock screen flaw that allows users to bypass any security locks you have set — exactly one week after it was fixed on the Galaxy Note II — it also introduces Samsung’s excellent Multi-View feature, and more.
For those unfamiliar with Multi-View, it’s a TouchWiz feature that was first introduced to the Galaxy Note II, and it allows you to run two apps side-by-side simultaneously. So you can watch YouTube videos while you chat to friends on Facebook, or keep an eye on the sports scores while you reply to emails.
It’s true multitasking on a smartphone, and Samsung’s the only smartphone manufacturer that provides it — for now, at least.
The update also makes improvements to the built-in Gallery, Camera, and Paper Artist apps, and addresses the lock screen security flaw that was discovered on a number of popular Samsung smartphones earlier this year.
The update is rolling out over-the-air to Sprint users as I write this, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you should do fairly soon.
Samsung warned us that its Apple Store clones were on the way, and this week they’ve begun popping up in Best Buy stores across the United States. Dubbed “Samsung Experience Shops,” the locations give customers the chance to get their hands on Samsung smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other devices so that they can try them out before making a purchase.
LG could be one of the first smartphone manufacturers to embrace flexible displays. The company’s vice president of mobile, Yoon Bu-hyun, has confirmed that it will launch a new handset with a flexible OLED display sometime during the fourth quarter of this year.
The HTC One is getting its first software update in Europe following its launch earlier this month. The 200MB patch comes with several camera and sound enhancements, as well as bug fixes and stability improvements that should make your handset a little more reliable.
