We are pleased to share an exciting update regarding Samsung Electronics Canada’s recent achievement in the field of IT Innovation and Business Value. Our customer service team has been recognized with an award for excellence, thanks to the groundbreaking Home Appliance Remote Monitoring (HRM) project. This initiative exemplifies our commitment to delivering exceptional customer experiences and setting new industry standards.

The HRM project, launched in 2024, represents a significant advancement in proactive care services. Leveraging Samsung’s expertise in remote, contactless diagnostics for mobile and TV products, HRM extends this innovative approach to home appliances. The core mission of HRM is to anticipate customer needs before they arise, ensuring seamless product performance and hassle-free experiences.

Key highlights of the HRM project include:

• Proactive Customer Care: Addressing potential issues before customers even realize they exist, enhancing satisfaction and trust.
• Customer-Centric Solutions: Reinforcing Samsung’s reputation for reliability and innovation in customer service.
• Industry Benchmark: Setting a new standard for proactive, customer-focused support in the home appliance sector.

The award, presented by IDC as part of the CIO Awards 2025, holds significant importance in the Canadian market. IDC is a globally recognized leader in market intelligence, offering insights into the technology sector. The CIO Awards specifically honor organizations that demonstrate exceptional innovation and business value through IT solutions. Winning this award not only validates our efforts but also positions Samsung Electronics Canada as a leader in IT innovation within the Canadian market.

This recognition underscores our ability to leverage cutting-edge technology to improve customer experiences and drive business value. It also highlights our commitment to staying ahead of industry trends and delivering solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers.

We are proud of this accomplishment and believe it reflects the hard work and dedication of our team. Moving forward, we will continue to build on this success, exploring new opportunities to enhance our customer care services and maintain our leadership in the industry.

This year’s recognition highlights Samsung Canada’s Home Appliance Remote Monitoring (HRM) project, which exemplifies the company’s commitment to proactive, data-driven customer care. The HRM initiative extends Samsung’s expertise in remote diagnostics to home appliances, enabling the company to anticipate customer needs, resolve issues before they arise, and provide seamless, reliable service.

Key highlights of the Home Appliance Remote Monitoring project include:

• Proactive Customer Care: Detecting and addressing potential issues before customers are impacted, increasing satisfaction and trust.
• Customer-Centric Solutions: Reinforcing Samsung’s reputation for innovation and reliability in customer service.
• Industry Benchmark: Setting a new standard for proactive, customer-focused support in the home appliance sector.

“Innovation at Samsung Canada is driven by our commitment to make life simpler, smarter, and more reliable for our customers,” said Frank Martino, Vice President, Corporate Services, Samsung Canada.

This recognition underscores Samsung Canada’s leadership in IT innovation and its ability to translate technology into tangible business value and superior customer experiences. IDC’s CIO Awards specifically honor organizations that demonstrate exceptional innovation, operational excellence, and measurable impact through IT.

Samsung Canada will continue to build on this success, leveraging HRM and other technology initiatives to enhance customer care, improve efficiency, and set new industry benchmarks for service excellence.

About the CIO Awards Canada

The CIO Awards for Canada recognize Canadian organizations and teams that use IT in innovative ways to deliver business value, whether by optimizing business processes, enabling growth, or improving customer relationships.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is a global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for IT, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. Learn more at www.idc.com/ca.

About CIO

CIO provides business technology leaders with insights into IT trends, leadership, and innovation. It reaches enterprise CIOs and executives with expertise on career development, business strategy, and technology-driven growth. Learn more at www.cio.com.

Samsung’s passion for innovation has been the driving force behind our journey. Over the decades, we’ve pioneered countless technological advancements that have transformed the way people live, work and connect. From groundbreaking developments in consumer electronics to cutting-edge solutions in semiconductor technology, we’ve consistently pushed the boundaries of what’s possible.

This commitment to innovation is deeply intertwined with our belief in co-prosperity. We recognize that true progress cannot be achieved in isolation. It requires collaboration, partnership and a shared vision for a brighter tomorrow. Our innovations are not just about creating products. In my three years as Samsung Electronics North America President and CEO, I have experienced firsthand how they’re about creating opportunities, empowering individuals and driving positive change in society.

Our citizenship work is firmly rooted in our aspiration to empower future generations to achieve their full potential. We are devoted to pioneering positive social change, demonstrating our commitment through programs and acts of service in classrooms and communities. This unwavering dedication has been a guiding light in our journey.

Our Commitment to STEM Education

One of the key pillars of our citizenship vision is our dedication to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education and empowering our future generation as leaders. As one of the largest technology companies in the world, we embrace the stewardship required to advance STEM to the forefront of education. We believe it is our duty, even our obligation, to contribute to STEM literacy and inspire more people to pursue STEM education and careers. In fact, Samsung Electronics North America has made STEM education a prominent part of our corporate agenda, actively investing in programs that educate and uplift the next generation of diverse thinkers, innovators, changemakers and activists.

In 2010, we took a meaningful role in boosting interest, proficiency and diversity in STEM with our flagship citizenship program, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow. Not only is it our most successful North American citizenship program, Solve for Tomorrow was first created in the U.S. by Samsung Electronics America and then adopted as the largest Samsung citizenship program around the world.

Emphasizing problem-based learning (PBL) and social impact entrepreneurship, this multi award-winning national competition challenges U.S. public school students to explore the role STEM can play in solving significant issues in their local communities. Personally, hosting the finals in D.C. last Spring was a highlight, as I got to interact with students and see first-hand the passion and creativity of young minds dedicated to solving real-world challenges through STEM. It excites me to know that STEM classrooms across the country look forward to and plan for the start of each competition year.

Beyond the annual competition itself, Solve for Tomorrow has branched out, becoming a community and giving rise to a series of offshoot programs that support stakeholders groups:

• Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Employee Mentors: Solve for Tomorrow engages and energizes Samsung’s North American workforce through a volunteer employee mentor program providing participating schools real-world insights from our incredible tech practitioners and through employee voting to pick a national Employee Choice award winner. The mentoring roles especially have been a great source of pride for our employees.
• Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Teacher Academy: Launched in 2019, this immersive professional development program enhances STEM teaching for educators who have participated in Samsung Solve for Tomorrow in the U.S. It equips them with skills, such as PBL, design-thinking, empathy development, environmental stewardship, and social impact entrepreneurship. Over the past five years, Teacher Academy has positively impacted more than 250 educators, who in turn inspired over 7,500 American STEM learners.
• Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Alumni Network: The Alumni Network is an online community for the curious-minded. The community consists of Solve for Tomorrow students, teachers other highly motivated hand raisers in North America that are sharing ideas on how to creatively engage students about STEM, foster critical thinking skills, and encourage collaboration through problem-based learning activities. We are proud to see these young students flourish in their academic pursuits, becoming STEM professionals, scholars, and active civic leaders in their communities.

Kicking off last year, we took our dedication to STEM to an even higher level by introducing a virtual educational program named Samsung Innovation Campus to offer Millennials and Gen Z women practical education in emerging technologies, specifically artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), enhancing their employment prospects and fostering much-needed gender diversity in tech. The 2022 and 2023 cohorts helped propel these women into promising career paths in these cutting-edge fields, making strides in addressing the industry’s pipeline problem.

Through these programs, we aim to create a future where STEM is accessible to all, regardless of background or circumstance. We believe that by doing so, we are contributing to a more equitable and prosperous society.

Our Dedication to Community Engagement & Employee Giving

But our commitment to co-prosperity extends beyond education. We also believe in making a tangible impact in the areas where we live and work. After all, we can only succeed when our communities also succeed. Through various community engagement and employee giving programs, we empower our employees to be active proponents of our mission.

Samsung Gives is our marquee employee service initiative, which is designed to provide support for and show solidarity with local communities through service. Our primary focus areas revolve around STEM education, as well as environmental sustainability. I find it to be incredibly meaningful to witness our employees coming together to support our companywide Day of Service, as well making donations and leveraging their skills to help such nonprofits as Boys & Girls Clubs of America, DonorsChoose, Junior Achievement and United Way in the U.S. and Autism Speaks Canada and SickKids in Canada accelerate their missions. And for Samsung’s part, we’ve exemplified our commitment by making significant financial and technology donations to these nonprofits, further enriching their crucial work in the community.

For example, in the U.S., Samsung has actively supported 1,300 classroom campaigns with DonorsChoose, making a substantial impact on the learning environments of students across the nation. In Canada, Samsung has donated over 5,000 tablets to families, schools and autism service providers to support their educational pursuits, through our partnership with Autism Speaks Canada. And we’ve pledged a $1 million commitment to SickKids, Canada’s foremost research-intensive hospital and the largest center dedicated to enhancing children’s health in the country.

What’s more, our Samsung Gives initiatives, such as the Day of Service, Intern Day of Service, Volunteer Time Off and Employee Match Program, really empower our employees to make a difference and support causes close to their hearts. The cumulative matching contribution by employees and our company since its inception has reached an impressive $6 million.

Of note, North America remains the only region worldwide that has successfully implemented a scaled companywide Day of Service – a tradition we’ve upheld for the past 13 years. We branch out from coast to coast to support various charities during business hours. This model sets a noteworthy example for corporate giving worldwide. In fact, I personally participated in sandwich making at Oasis, a nonprofit in Paterson, New Jersey, for children in afterschool care programs during our last Day of Service earlier this month. I learned that the sandwiches served a dual purpose. For some students, they were just an afternoon snack. For others, they were a take-home dinner or even a weekend meal.

We also work closely with our ERGs – Unidos, PRIDE, Galaxy of Black Professionals, Next Generation Leaders, Veterans Community, Women+ in Samsung Electronics – to strengthen our community outreach programs by integrating diverse community partners into our Samsung Gives employee volunteerism campaigns, such as The Resource Center, Team Rubicon and Year Up. This ERG-led inclusive volunteerism approach fosters deeper connections and a shared sense of purpose.

In closing, I believe our heritage of innovation, citizenship and community engagement is a testament to our unwavering commitment to co-prosperity. It’s a legacy that continues to drive us forward as we strive to create a brighter, more inclusive and sustainable future for all. As we look ahead to the next 55 years and beyond, Samsung remains steadfast in our dedication to empowering individuals, fostering positive change and making a meaningful difference in the world. Together, we can build a future where co-prosperity is not just a value, but a reality for all!

Samsung Canada is proud to once again be named one of the 50 Most Engaged Workplaces by Achievers, a leading employee engagement company. The annual recognition highlights companies who display leadership and innovation in creating engaging and collaborative team environments.

Companies were evaluated on eight elements that demonstrate a best-in-class employee culture: accountability and performance; belonging, equity and inclusion; culture alignment; manager empowerment; professional and personal growth; purpose and leadership; recognition and rewards; and wellbeing.

Tools and platforms that contribute to Samsung’s recognition include:

• 360 Leadership Assessments
• Company sponsored Employee Resource Groups
• Ur Awesome – peer recognition
• Samsung Connect – employee & executive coffee chats & mentorship

“We are honoured to receive this recognition again, which is truly a testament to our teams and the active support and encouragement that they offer one another,” said Jihoon Lee, President and CEO, Samsung Electronics Canada. “Our employees are the heart of our company, and their pride, talent and care for their work each and every day is what makes Samsung one of the best places to work in Canada.”

“Amid economic turbulence and a rapidly changing work landscape, it has never been more vital to prioritize employee engagement. However, building a workplace that effectively engages and supports all employees is no easy feat,” said Jeff Cates, CEO, Achievers. “We’re proud to announce this year’s 50 Most Engaged Workplaces and recognize an impressive group of companies who are truly redefining employee engagement excellence.”

Samsung Canada has also been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers and named one of the World’s Top Employers by Forbes.

To learn more about building a career with Samsung, visit the Career Centre.

Samsung Canada is being recognized as one of the 50 Most Engaged Workplaces by Achievers, a leading employee engagement company. The annual awards recognize top employers that display leadership and innovation in engaging their workplaces.

One of Samsung Canada’s most popular engagement tools is their innovative employee recognition platform through the Achievers platform, that provides employees and managers the opportunity to celebrate colleagues with virtual kudos. These moments of recognition accumulate into rewards points that can be redeemed for gift cards and other prizes.

“It’s immensely satisfying to receive this recognition from Achievers, because it reinforces that Samsung Canada employees are highly engaged, generous and eager to embrace team members’ accomplishments,’” said Jeff Jo, President and CEO, Samsung Electronics Canada. “Over the last year and a half, it has been particularly special to see the Samsung Canada family come together in support of one another’s hard work and commitment.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic presented a myriad of challenges for businesses and their workforce. But these unprecedented times also offered an opportunity for organizations to support their people. Companies that prioritized employee experience, recognition and employee voice have seen increased productivity, higher employee engagement and stronger loyalty,” said Jeff Cates, CEO and president at Achievers. “This year’s 50 Most Engaged winners embody what it means to be a ‘people-first’ business and have proven how the prioritization of employee experience can help an organization withstand even the most difficult of times.”

To evaluate the contenders and select the top 50 engaged workplaces, Achievers assembled a panel of 15 esteemed judges comprised of employee engagement academics, industry analysts, thought leaders, journalists and influencers. The panel selected winners based on Achievers’ Eight Elements of Employee Engagement: Accountability and Performance, Belonging, Equity and Inclusion, Culture Alignment, Manager Empowerment, Professional and Personal Growth, Purpose and Leadership, Recognition and Rewards, and Wellbeing.

For more information about Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces®, please visit achievers.com/engaged. If you’re interested in learning about employment opportunities with Samsung Canada, please visit our Career Centre.

(left) Dr. June Hee Lee, Senior Vice President and Head of the Technology Strategy Team and Dr. Won Joon Choi, Senior Vice President and Head of the Flagship R&D Team

For more than 35 years, Samsung has been a leader across the mobile industry, from smartphones to mobile chipsets to network solutions. Over the past decade, the company’s dedication to pushing the boundaries of what is possible has paved the way to the development of the first end-to-end 5G solution.

This trailblazing spirit has led Samsung to become the first company to introduce breakthrough consumer-centric 5G experiences, including Samsung’s first commercialized 5G smartphone, the Galaxy S10 5G, which was launched in South Korea in April and is set for a global rollout.

But, the question is, – What will 5G enable? Why is 5G important? How do consumers experience 5G today? and what were the challenges that Samsung had to overcome to commercialize 5G?

Two figures at Samsung, Dr. Won Joon Choi, Senior Vice President and Head of the Flagship R&D Team, and Dr. June Hee Lee, Senior Vice President and Head of the Technology Strategy Team, were integral in leading 5G-ready hardware and software development, and they recently shared their behind-the-scenes stories of 5G development and technology leadership in more detail.

Pushing Boundaries

5G technology will revolutionize what is possible on a data network, much like the unprecedented possibilities 4G unlocked when it launched. 4G put the internet in your pocket and opened the ability to work and play while on the go. With increased speeds and lower latency of the 5G bandwidth, 5G will offer more than just mobile advantages when compared with LTE. “When 5G service is completely actualized, its capabilities will not be limited just to smartphones; the concept of a connected, autonomous vehicle can be fully realized, as well as smart factories and smart robots in the medical field, for instance,” explains Choi. “Video conferencing will no longer be in 2D but will take place in 3D,” adds Lee, “and furthermore, no one can imagine streaming 360-degree video on your smartphone with mobile data as it exists now, but with 5G, this will become a reality,” stresses Lee. But making this a reality has been no small undertaking.

In order to institute the 5G bandwidth, every aspect of the network infrastructure ecosystem, from antenna models to device chipsets, had to be reconfigured to account for its separate frequency range from existing bandwidths. “Samsung has been directly engaged with the 5G market from the start, from research to technology to setting international standards,” notes Lee. “What prompted Samsung to spearhead 5G was our mindset that, when there is a direction that the industry should be headed, it is important to blaze that trail, no matter how challenging it seems.”

What It Takes to Champion 5G

The establishment of an end-to-end solution has been key to Samsung’s development of a global 5G network. From the beginning, the company took the unique approach of developing the capabilities to not only make a 5G device, but also to establish the necessary partnerships crucial to the full ecosystem roll-out, from chipset and infrastructure vendors to carriers and content & service providers. “5G development started with figuring out what the core technologies of 5G were and how we would secure them – early on, we took the lead in collaborating with numerous partners such as chipset vendors, for example,” explains Choi. “All of this enabled us to take a leading role in the development of 5G.”

The capabilities Samsung developed in these exploratory phases began more than a decade ago and allowed the company to stay at the forefront of each new phase of 5G development. The frequency 5G operates on, mmWave and Sub-6GHz, called for numerous innovations to device hardware and software, including a 5G modem chip, a 5G RF chip, RF front-end components, and 5G receivers. In 2013, Samsung successfully developed its first 5G proof of concept (POC) and, two years later, its first-ever pre-5G spec opened the door to other milestones – including the creation of a 5G smartphone set to 3GPP and international standards.

What has made Samsung a leader in 5G is its commitment to bringing together all elements of the development process, from research to development, not just on a mobile level, but on a global network scale. “The first 5G New Radio standard spec was approved at the end of 2017,” highlights Choi, “and Samsung took a leading role in setting this international standard.” This network leadership is not without precedent for Samsung; the company also participated in setting the international network standards for the transition from 3G to LTE, and this experience, not only on a network infrastructure level but also on a consumer-facing one, meant the company was primed and ready to lead 5G development.

Understanding that a global 5G network infrastructure must come into full operation gradually, Samsung ensured its current service minimizes network interruptions by providing an LTE-5G transition period through Non-Stand-Alone (NSA) network standardization. “The current 5G service utilizes the stable LTE network for transmitting important information such as control and signaling details, including LTE to 5G handover, while using 5G for data transmission,” clarifies Choi. “Regarding the Galaxy S10 5G, the device was designed on both hardware and software levels to be ready to use the NSA network throughout the handover. Furthermore, there are always some unprecedented issues that arise during a transition period. We are taking all consumer feedback very seriously and thanks to our close coordination with all relevant partners, as the infrastructure improves, so will the full 5G experience.”

Creating a Device Built for the 5G Era

In order to ensure its first 5G device remained as user-friendly and intuitive as consumers have come to expect from the Galaxy series, Samsung developed a major hardware innovation. “Because a 5G phone must support all LTE legacy hardware, adding 5G-specific components such as the 5G modem chip and 5G RF chip naturally involved incorporating additional parts,” explains Choi. “If we had simply mounted these onto a device, the phone would have become bulky. Instead, we meticulously designed how and where to include these extra components to retain the Galaxy series’ streamlined unibody design.” Even after mounting the necessary extra components, the Galaxy S10 5G still possesses a slim, unibody form factor.

This was not the only hurdle Samsung had to overcome with the Galaxy S10 5G; 5G networks consume a lot of battery power due to the large amount of data they have to transmit. “We mitigated this challenge by incorporating the latest vapor chamber technology featuring new AI software that automatically optimizes battery, CPU, RAM, and even device temperature based on how people use their phones. This smart software learns from its user and continues to over time,” notes Choi.

The most challenging issue Samsung addressed with the Galaxy S10 5G was developing technology to support 5G bandwidth, operating on the higher frequencies. “High-frequency spectrum had never been supported on mobile devices before,” explains Choi. “From a hardware perspective, creating a solution for this meant years of research into mitigating weak signals as a result of physical barriers or obstacles in the path of frequencies, particularly when encountering metal objects.” On the software side, Samsung was dedicated to providing a seamless customer experience. “Our solution is based on a wide range of accumulated experience and know-hows,” remarks Lee. “Our longtime interactions with consumers, which provided us with an understanding of how, for example, consumers use and grip their phones, allowed us to develop software that keeps the device connected to the 5G signal.”

The Future of 5G Connectivity

Not only will Samsung’s achievements in 5G transform the mobile data experience for consumers, they will also have exciting implications for the future of Connected Living and will play a huge role in optimizing the operation and connectivity of devices that harness artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT (Internet of Things). “The world of 5G will bring so much potential into the future technology field, including helping the realization of smart factories and smart cities,” affirms Lee.

“With the advent of 4G, speed was the only key improvement, but it is different with 5G,” notes Choi. “We consider 5G technology to be a key underlying technology that can enable a truly new, non-mobile-exclusive broadband market.”

Not only does 5G offer eMBB (Enhanced Mobile Broadband) thanks to transmit speeds of up to 20 times what LTE provides, its URLLC (Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication) minimizes the time it takes for data to travel from one point to another and mMTC (Massive Machine-Type Communication) paves the way for smart factories and supply chains. “In being able to transmit information with minimum latency and maximum reliability, 5G technology is crucial to the safety features of smart cars, the stability of smart factories and the accuracy of smart robots in the medical field; essentially, it is the key technology to making these future technologies a possibility,” explains Choi.

“With 5G, the absolute bandwidth of the network has increased,” adds Lee. “With the example of the connected car, data needs to be transmitted to the driver extremely fast. For instance, in the case of a car driving at a speed of 100km per hour, a 0.1 second delay in latency could result in a 3-meter difference. Furthermore, regarding smart cities, 5G offers another important advantage thanks to its increased connectivity capabilities. With 5G, in theory, we can possibly connect 10 times the devices LTE can – simultaneously.”

5G is therefore crucial for industries outside of mobile. The ramifications of its implementation look to be truly global, and Samsung, who has been developing its solutions with this in mind from the start, is at the forefront of bringing about the 5G revolution.