Samsung hasn’t yet detailed pricing or availability for the Z Fold 2, but said it will share more information on Sept. 1. The first generation of the device cost $1,980 and came with 4G in the US. The new model packs in 5G connectivity across the three major US carriers, a glass screen and a redesigned hinge, all of which could make it even more expensive.
Discover the latest news and best reviews in smartphones and carriers from CNET’s mobile experts.
Samsung’s task with its new lineup is finding buyers willing to fork over a grand or two during a pandemic and recession. The new products were designed before the novel coronavirus spread around the globe, which meant Samsung couldn’t tweak the Note 20 or its other new devices to address the pandemic.
What it could do, though, is change how it goes about selling the Note 20 and the Note 20 Ultra, Drew Blackard, vice president of product management for Samsung Electronics America, said in an interview ahead of the launch event.
“It was a bit more of how you react to the current situation as opposed to kind of retool everything that you’re doing,” Blackard said. “Despite the fact that we couldn’t change the device, we very much rethought how we go to market.”
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That includes those virtual consultations that’ll make the online buying interaction more like the in-store experience. Touchless digital demos will give in-store shoppers a glimpse into the Note’s features, right from their own devices. And Samsung is exploring ways to tailor its future products and services to the needs of people who are largely stuck at home, like making it easier to track fitness and stay healthy while quarantining.
Lower phone sales
Samsung’s phone sales have taken a hit during the pandemic. Its Galaxy S20 lineup became available about a week before parts of the US issued stay-at-home orders. Because consumers were worried about money — and couldn’t see the new devices in person — demand fell. Last week, Samsung said its mobile business revenue tumbled 18% from the previous year.
In the second quarter, Apple was the only smartphone vendor that saw its shipments grow, according to Canalys. Apple’s iPhone SE, its first major revamp of its popular small phone in four years, arrived in mid-April with a starting price of $399. That seemed to be the perfect phone for the times and helped buoy Apple’s results. The device costs $300 less than the iPhone 11 but contains many of the same specs, appealing to people who can’t afford a $700 phone, let alone a $1,000 iPhone 11 Pro.
Samsung, despite launching its new Galaxy S20 lineup in March and its less expensive Galaxy A phones, saw the biggest year-over-year drop of the world’s top five phone makers in the second quarter, Canalys said. Its 30% decline allowed Huawei to leapfrog Samsung to become the world’s biggest smartphone vendor for the first time, the firm noted. It was the first time in nine years that a company other than Samsung or Apple shipped the most phones.
Samsung said in a statement it’ll continue to “focus on creating innovative mobile experiences that improve our users’ lives.” Part of that includes its new devices from Unpacked, and it noted during its earnings in late July that it also will strengthen its “mass-market lineup” of less expensive phones.
At least in the US, Samsung “found that, actually, demand for premium devices is still quite high,” Blackard said. Still, Samsung sold about 44% fewer Galaxy S20 models in the US in the first four months of sales than the Galaxy S10 last year, according to M Science, a data analytics provider that tracks stats like mobile adoption.
Google, meanwhile, unveiled its new smartphone, the Pixel 4A, last Monday. Instead of introducing a high-end, flagship phone, Google opted to slightly pare back the Pixel’s specs to price it at $349. The phone doesn’t have 5G or a premium processor, but “for its price, the Pixel 4A has one of the best cameras you can get on a phone,” CNET’s Lynn La said in her review of the device.
The new Note 20 lineup is nowhere near that price level, with phones starting at $1,000. For some people at this time, that pricing could be hard to stomach. Working in Samsung’s favor is the rabid Note fanbase.
“What we’ve shown here in the past five months is we probably have the broadest portfolio of any company in the industry,” Blackard said. “We are down to $99 on the A01, up to Galaxy Fold, which is [about] $2,000. … Our portfolio is very well suited to the current situation.”
Still, the new Note lineup has a lot in common with the Galaxy S20 devices from earlier this year. In the past, the Note got the latest and greatest technology first, and it also had the biggest screen. Now the Galaxy S lineup gets a lot of features first, and the foldables are Samsung’s new ultra-premium lineup. There’ve been questions for years about where the Note fits into Samsung’s overall lineup.
“It will be interesting to see whether this will be the last evolution of the Note in its current format,” said CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood. “These days consumers tend to hold onto their smartphones for at least three years, so having two flagship launches a year may no longer be necessary.”
Encouraging online shopping
A big focus for Samsung during the pandemic is boosting online phone sales, something that hasn’t been a huge market in the US. Here, most people buy their phones from carriers like Verizon and AT&T, and they usually at least look at them in person before making the purchase. But the pandemic has forced many stores around the country to close, preventing people from holding new phones in their hands before buying them.
“People shop on their phones, but they don’t shop for phones with their phones,” Blackard said.
To make people more comfortable with buying smartphones online, Samsung started offering contactless delivery and increased the return window for its devices to 30 days from 14. It also created a first responders discount for all of its products, which is on par with Samsung’s employee discount.
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Since the pandemic began, the amount of US purchases made online across the phone industry has almost doubled compared with in-store, Blackard said.
Samsung also will be offering virtual consultations starting this month, providing information that would-be buyers typically get when they go into physical stores — like detailing features of a device, explaining their phone plan and potential deals for the phone and answering questions.
“From your computer, you’ll be able to just log in, and you’ll get a Samsung representative who can walk you through that purchase process as if you were there in a retail store,” Blackard said. He added that while the consultants initially will be Samsung employees, the company hopes to partner with others, like carriers, to provide the same sort of experience.
Changing the in-store experience
For stores that are open, Samsung is rolling out a new “touchless digital retail mode” with the Note 20, Blackard said. Typically, people visiting stores pick up new devices and play with them before deciding to buy. Samsung’s technology will let people scan a QR code using their own devices and launch “a virtual experience of what it’s like to use the Note 20 on the device you have in your hand,” he said.
“People might not want to touch a phone right now as they go into a store,” Blackard said.
Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra come in a striking bronze shade
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Samsung also knows it has to make its devices more attractively priced for consumers. After introducing the Galaxy S20 in March, Samsung offered “work from home bundles” that gave deals on equipment. And last month, it partnered with Postmates to give anyone who bought certain Galaxy devices a free year of Postmates Unlimited, the service that gives free delivery on orders.
Though the new Note lineup doesn’t come cheap, Samsung plans to offer generous promotional deals for the phones. Note 20 buyers will get $100 Samsung.com gift cards, while Note 20 Ultra purchasers will get $150. Samsung also has trade-in offers to give up to $650 for older devices, and it’s expanded its upgrade program, which lets device owners get a new Galaxy phone every year.
“The Note occupies an evolving space in Samsung’s lineup,” Reticle Research principal analyst Ross Rubin said. “Samsung has shifted it toward productivity enthusiasts.”
Samsung isn’t ready to talk about changes to its devices, Blackard said, but it’s looking at three broad areas for innovation: fitness and health; shopping; and entertainment.
The areas “are very exploratory,” Blackard said. Samsung won’t be deploying new services or features immediately but considers them “areas of investigation and product collaboration to bring these solutions to market.”
When it comes to fitness, Samsung is exploring tools to help people “figure out ways to exercise from home,” Blackard said. For health, Samsung is looking into features to support telehealth, those digital doctor appointments more people are having during the pandemic.
“How do we dive deeper with consumers on some of the things that they’re going through and then ultimately craft solutions around that?” Blackard said.
When it comes to retail, Samsung is exploring ways to improve the online shopping experience. “Considering all the technology we have in these [new Note] devices — 5G connectivity, great augmented reality solutions, three cameras — the mobile shopping experience is still pretty basic,” Blackard said.
And with entertainment, Samsung is considering how it can help people enjoy concerts, sports, movies and other content from home instead of in person. Rather than create its own services — something Samsung has struggled with — it’s opted to partner with other companies over the past several years, like working with Microsoft to offer Xbox Cloud gaming on the Note 20. It’s looking at even more ways to work with partners in entertainment, Blackard said.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The tiny Mideast nation of Kuwait has banned the release of the video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” which features the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and is set in part in the 1990s Gulf War.
The video game, a first-person shooter, follows CIA operators fighting at times in the United States and also in the Middle East. Game-play trailers for the game show burning oilfields, a painful reminder for Kuwaitis who saw Iraqis set fire to the fields, causing vast ecological and economic damage. Iraqi troops damaged or set fire to over 700 wells.
There also are images of Saddam and Iraq’s old three-star flag in the footage released by developers ahead of the game’s launch. The game’s multiplayer section, a popular feature of the series, includes what appears to be a desert shootout in Kuwait called Scud after the Soviet missiles Saddam fired in the war. Another is called Babylon, after the ancient city in Iraq.
Activision acknowledged in a statement that the game “has not been approved for release in Kuwait,” but did not elaborate.
“All pre-orders in Kuwait will be cancelled and refunded to the original point of purchase,” the company said. “We remain hopeful that local authorities will reconsider, and allow players in Kuwait to enjoy this all-new experience in the Black Ops series.”
Kuwait’s Media Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press over the decision.
“Call of Duty,” which first began in 2003 as a first-person shooter set in World War II, has expanded into an empire worth billions of dollars now owned by Microsoft. But it also has been controversial as its gameplay entered the realm of geopolitics. China and Russia both banned chapters in the franchise. In 2009, an entry in the gaming franchise allowed players to take part in a militant attack at a Russian airport, killing civilians.
But there have been other games recently that won praise for their handling of the Mideast. Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage” published last year won praise for its portrayal of Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age in the 9th century.
