Samsung Germany Executives Reflect on Trends at IFA 2017

The Frame Revolutionizes TV Design

“This year, UHD became the most decisive factor for television purchases for the very first time, according to gfu¹. And yet for Samsung, better television is not just about brilliant picture quality, but a better TV experience in every respect.

“With QLED, we have introduced a TV category that convinces thanks to Quantum dot technology, UHD, HDR, and a peak brightness of up to 2,000 nits. And where ease of use is concerned, Samsung sets standards with the Smart Hub and Premium Smart remote. Viewers can access any content they want in just three clicks – even from external players. QLED TVs are literally more beautiful televisions, with their clever wall mounts, cable solutions and stands.

“With The Frame, we are transforming the television into a canvas for digital art. The designer TV combines interior design with current smart TV technology, and evokes the aesthetic reserve of a picture frame.”

Kai Hillebrandt, Vice President of Consumer Electronics, Samsung Electronics GmbH

Clear User Menus – The Comprehensive Samsung Interface

“Technology is meant to make life easier. But while the capabilities of smartphones, PCs, refrigerators and washing machines continue to increase in the Internet of Things era, their operation is also becoming ever more complex.

“With Samsung, the technology adapts to the person, and not the other way around. To simplify the daily lives of consumers and enterprises, we carry out trend studies on consumer behaviors and apply the findings when developing the next smartphones, televisions and home appliances.

“We are thus continuously improving how users interact with our products – be it via gesture, touch, gaze or voice. The result is an all-embracing design language for Samsung’s Smart TVs, the Smart View app, smartphones, tablets, our Family Hub 2.0 refrigerators, and many other appliances.”

Kai Hillebrandt, Vice President of Consumer Electronics, Samsung Electronics GmbH

Perfect Sound to Match the Picture – Samsung Soundbars Bring Cinema Sound to the Living Room

“Connectivity and immersive listening are the big audio trends of 2017. This because a successful home cinema experience not only calls for a brilliant picture, but also luscious sound.

“Samsung’s QLED TVs revolutionize picture quality with UHD and HDR. MPEG-H stands for a new sound experience. The new technology permits every audio track to be individually modified and purposefully adjusted in live broadcasts.

“Easy and fast access to music from anywhere in the house is also becoming ever more important for consumers. Two thirds of German consumers, for example, desire clean TV setups² – a clear rejection of complex 7.1 systems and loudspeaker cables.

“With the HW-MS750 Flat Soundbar Sound+, Samsung has already combined a soundbar and subwoofer in a single slim soundbar casing – without any additional speakers or external cables. The Samsung HW-MS950 soundbar, powered by Dolby Atmos, makes sound even more flexible while placing the viewer at the center of the sound experience. The sound can be precisely moved and placed in three-dimensional space, also above the viewer’s head. Dolby Atmos makes home cinema entertainment come alive, and turns it into an intense and emotional experience with a clear and profoundly detailed soundscape.”

Kai Hillebrandt, Vice President of Consumer Electronics, Samsung Electronics GmbH

Untethered Music – The Galaxy S8 with UHQ Audio

“Music is also enjoyed on the go these days. Be it in the fitness studio, on the train, in the kitchen or garden – users always have their soundtrack with them, on their smartphone or streamed from the web. “With its Ultra High Quality (UHQ) audio technology, Samsung takes music enjoyment to a new level. It also enables high-quality sound on the road and supports digital recording at up to 32 bit/384 kHz. The audio files are not compressed, and can even be extrapolated.

“This way, music lovers can enjoy the entire sound spectrum of music sources in CD quality – or even higher, for example, with FLAC files or high-quality streaming. The technology is deployed in Bluetooth speakers, high-quality AKG headphones, ultra-light headsets, and even smartphones – the Galaxy S8 and S8+.”

Martin Börner, Deputy President, Samsung Electronics GmbH

UHD and HDR – QLED TV Creates a Visual Experience That’s Ready for the Big Screen

“UHD is conquering the mass market, as more and more consumers have become captivated by the ultra-realistic visual experiences enabled by UHD and HDR. High resolution is the most decisive factor for television buyers today³.

“A still larger leap is provided by HDR technology, helping today’s televisions achieve pictures that are extremely rich in contrast. The expanded color space becomes even more apparent in a direct comparison. Thanks to its unique suitability for HDR10 content, Samsung’s QLED technology represents the TV experience of the future.

“What’s especially impressive is the brightness of the Quantum dot displays. QLED TVs are extremely bright, with peak values of up to 2,000 nits, and offer the user intensively radiant, lifelike colors even in bright daylight. In doing so, QLED TVs follow the standards for digital cinema, and are able to cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 cinema color space. That is a decisive point for consumers, as HDR will change the TV experience forever. It is thus not without reason that we are talking about a new product category when referring to QLED TV.”

Kai Hillebrandt, Vice President of Consumer Electronics, Samsung Electronics GmbH

Virtual Reality – Gear VR Makes the New Media Age Accessible for All

“Virtual reality and 360-degree video have introduced a completely new media experience to the mass market, and Samsung is a pioneer in these areas. Take social VR, for example. The technology is tangibly affecting our behavior on social networks. Today, we take our followers along in 360 degrees when we go to a concert or climb a mountain. They can then share in the adventure live with their VR headset or on a Samsung smart TV.

“Samsung is one of the first companies to have made these fascinating new experiences broadly available to the public, with its Gear VR headsets and Gear 360 cameras, and is a pioneer for this new media age.

“We have sold over 1.1 million VR devices in Europe since 2015, and already more than 5 million worldwide. This clearly shows that the interest in this technology is huge. It will fundamentally change the way we tell and experience visual stories.”

Martin Börner, Deputy President, Samsung Electronics GmbH

Benefitting Your Health – A Fitter Lifestyle with Samsung Gear

“Fitness wearables have become the norm in the shortest space of time, providing a perfect example of how quickly technologies can transform our lives. This is exactly what our motto for this year’s IFA expresses: “the new normal”. We have long since stopped talking about the measurement of the self instead of a new relationship with our body.

“Wearables change our awareness for a healthy life through their ability to monitor the wearer’s fitness activities, and optimize their efforts with the help of apps.

Samsung has been actively working to shape this trend for five years now with new innovations such as our Samsung Gear smartwatches. We will be experiencing this kind of rapid societal development brought on by technologies more often in the future, as trends spread with ever greater speed these days, not least of all thanks to social media.”

Alexander Zeeh, Director Home Appliances, Samsung Electronics GmbH

Networking in the Household – The Family Hub 2.0 Refrigerator as a Family Manager

“The market for household appliances is growing, and we see ourselves in a very good position to benefit from this growth. Samsung is banking on brilliant, dependable innovations that let us make household chores easier for our customers, and often help them reclaim some time. The industry-wide trend towards connected home appliances has an important part to play in this. We always take a close look at what people need in their day-to-day life, and develop products that meet their needs.

“With Family Hub, a smart refrigerator with an integrated LCD display, we have pooled our know-how in screen technologies, networking, and ease of use in the area of cooling to turn the kitchen into a modern communication center with the fridge as family manager. This is where food is organized, messages are exchanged, and schedules are compared.

“The fridge’s next generation, Family Hub 2.0, caters to the needs of every family member even more individually. Using personal user profiles, the entire family can now also exchange to-do lists or send messages to the refrigerator display on the go.

“The Smart Home App can also be used to control other compatible household appliances, such as a washing machine for example, by way of the user’s smartphone or the refrigerator screen.”

Martin Börner, Deputy President, Samsung Electronics GmbH

¹ gfu, Motive, Einstellungen und Kaufkriterien. Konsumtrends der Consumer und Home Electronics, May 2017.

² Data collected at the behest of Samsung by Kantar TNS in an online multi-subject survey based on the iBus method. This involved surveying 1,017 Germans aged 16 to 64 from June 1 to 4, 2017.

³ gfu, Motive, Einstellungen und Kaufkriterien. Konsumtrends der Consumer und Home Electronics, May 2017.