The DX Division, headed by Vice Chairman and CEO Jong-Hee Han, will comprise of the Visual Display Business, Digital Appliances Business, Health & Medical Equipment Business, MX Business and Networks Business. The naming reflects the Company’s longer-term future-oriented business structure and stronger global leadership.

With services and solutions that meet the needs of users as well as a wide range of products – from TVs and appliances to smartphones and network equipment – the Company will focus on providing leading experiences for customers.

Under the DX Division, the Company expects to strengthen synergies among the diverse businesses and create differentiated products and services.

Jong-Hee (JH) Han was promoted to Vice Chairman and CEO, and will lead the newly merged SET Division as he continues to head the Visual Display Business. President Kyehyun Kyung was also named CEO and will lead the DS Division.

• JH Han is a leading expert in TV research and development and has played a major role in the Company achieving the top position in global TV sales for the 15th consecutive year. He is expected to strengthen the synergies among the different businesses in the SET Division and help drive new businesses and technologies.
• Kyehyun Kyung, who has been the CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, is an expert in semiconductor design, having previously been the head of Samsung Electronics’ Flash Product & Technology Team as well as part of the DRAM Design Team. He is expected to help maintain the Company’s semiconductor leadership and lead innovation in the components business.

Other promotions and changes in today’s announcement include:

• Yongin Park, named President and Head of System LSI Business; previously Executive Vice President and Head of System LSI Sales & Marketing
• Hark Kyu Park, named President and Chief Financial Officer; previously President and Head of the Corporate Management Office, DS Division
• Kinam Kim, named Chairman of Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology; previously Vice Chairman and head of the DS Division
• KS Choi, named President and Head of North America Office for SET Division; previously Executive Vice President and Head of North America Office
• Inyup Kang, named President and Head of North America Office for DS Division; previously President and Head of System LSI Business

▲ (From left) Mingyo Oh, Haekwang Park and Shinhye Choi, at Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business behind Premium Soundbar, the HW-Q950A

With the increasing popularity of large screen televisions and the continued addition of further OTT (over-the-top) services, more users are looking to establish a theater-like experience in their homes. On top of that, social distancing measures have required people to go out less, stoking their desire to enjoy premium visual and audio experiences from home.

Full, clear and deep sound plays a crucial role in ensuring that content is delivered as it was originally intended. Paving the way for new audio experiences, Samsung Electronics introduced its high-end soundbar models, the HW-Q950A and HW-Q900A, in May of this year. The new premium models take sound quality to the next level with up to 16 channels and a host of enhanced functions that bring even greater satisfaction to users. Samsung Newsroom met with the product experts of the 2021 soundbar models to find out the secret behind their powerful and precise sound.

11.1.4-Channel Surround Sound That Fills the Entire Room

▲ Haekwang Park, Principal Engineer at the Sound Device Lab, Samsung’s Visual Display Business

Thanks to our ever-evolving content culture, sound is getting richer, fuller and more expressive. The days of one-directional (mono) sound are long gone as we have ushered in the era of multi-directional channels that allow sound to fill up the surrounding space. “Sound is becoming increasingly important as people nowadays watch a wide variety of programs that place more emphasis on audio quality, such as music shows and films,” says Haekwang Park, Principal Engineer from the Sound lab at Samsung’s Visual Display Business.

To live up to consumers’ heightened expectations, Samsung has spared no effort in developing high-quality soundbar products that deliver very realistic sound. In 2016, Samsung brought its first 5.1.4-channel soundbar model to market. This soundbar was equipped with left, right and middle channels, two rear channels, a subwoofer and four upward-firing speakers, and delivered immersive, three-dimensional surround sound. More channels were added to later models, including a surround channel on the side of the soundbar and a wide surround channel to deliver sound from the front and sides. In 2020, Samsung introduced a 9.1.4-channel model.

In 2021, Samsung went a step further with its latest 11.1.4-channel model, the HW-Q950A, which features two rear surround channels. Product planner Mingyo Oh explained that, “The newly added channels are located on the sides of the rear surround speakers. They add liveliness to dynamic scenes involving things like airplanes in flight and car chases by allowing the sound to hit the side walls before it bounces back to where the audience is positioned.” The premium soundbar delivers an outstanding audio experience by filling previously quiet moments with powerful, immersive sound.

▲ Mingyo Oh from the Product Planning Group at Samsung’s Visual Display Business

Delivering Sound Exactly as Intended With Advanced Rendering and Waveguide Techniques

A channel is a passage for sound that dictates which direction it travels. This is why having a higher number of channels provides better, smoother sound. It usually requires costly equipments to offer 11.1.4-channel sound, but Samsung’s HW-Q950A is able to provide a breathtaking 3D surround sound experience with only four speakers thanks to its unparalleled rendering and waveguide techniques.

Rendering is the process of creating a way for the audio output to deliver sound exactly as the artist intended. The Samsung developers made it possible to deliver an optimal acoustic experience with the soundbar system by tapping into its cutting-edge rendering technology. “To provide the most natural audio experience to users, we have carefully designed our products to deliver sound seamlessly. The HW-Q950A soundbar delivers sound that is reflected in various directions and arrives at users’ ears at the optimal angle,” related Shinhye Choi.

▲ Shinhye Choi from the Global Product Marketing Group at Samsung’s Visual Display Business

An advanced waveguide technique is also indispensable when it comes to delivering next-level sound. A multi-channel speaker emits sound in multiple directions, and the waveguide technique allows components in the speaker to deliver sound in the direction intended by the developer. Haekwang Park reported that, “Top-tier experts at the Visual Display Business’s Sound Lab and Samsung Audio Lab in California came together to design the parts that went into the speakers. Our soundbar models are meticulously constructed to deliver world-class sound performance.”

How SpaceFit Sound+ and Q-Symphony Further Elevate the Viewing Experience

Usually, most of the sound emitted by speakers hits walls or curtains before reaching the audience’s ears. This explains why the same sound is heard differently depending on the dimensions and layout of the viewing environment. Samsung’s HW-Q950A soundbar and 2021 TV models deliver stunning sound that tunes into users’ viewing environments by analyzing the dimensions of the space they’re in using SpaceFit Sound+.

SpaceFit Sound+ combines SpaceFit Sound technology, which delivers optimized audio, and Auto EQ (auto equalizer) technology. Together, the SpaceFit Sound and Auto EQ solutions use embedded microphones to thoroughly survey the viewing space, and then feed that data to the soundbar to enable it to deliver a tailored sound experience.

But the collaboration between the Samsung TV and the soundbar does not stop there. Samsung’s innovative, proprietary Q-Symphony technology additionally combines and enhances the sound generated by the TV and soundbar to guarantee optimal sound quality. Normally, when you connect a soundbar to your TV, the sound is emitted only from the soundbar. What’s more, some technical issues involving out-of-sync sound and tone disparities between the two devices had been observed. Q-Symphony overcomes these issues by incorporating a stereoscopic sound effect that allows sound to play through the speakers that wrap around the TV in addition to through the soundbar, providing richer and more realistic sound compared to when sound is produced through the soundbar alone.

Combining Truly Rich Sound With Highly Convenient Functionality

As with other models, Samsung has placed great emphasis on creating a new level of acoustic immersion with the HW-Q950A. But that doesn’t mean it can’t also include a host of convenient features. To begin with, the Active Voice Amplifier (AVA) feature clarifies dialogue in the viewer’s favorite shows to help them hear on-screen conversations clearly amid a variety of background noises. With an embedded microphone, the soundbar automatically measures noise levels and enhances voices if the noise continues for more than three seconds or surpasses a certain threshold.

And the HW-Q950A optimizes sound for different types of scenes, such as those with loud sound effects and dialogue-heavy scenes. For instance, the Adaptive Sound feature analyzes sound signals to deliver an optimal sound experience for each scene. Moreover, Game Mode Pro delivers a powerful, immersive gaming experience with subwoofers and upward-firing speakers. The Tap Sound feature also enables users to simply tap their smartphones on the soundbar when listening to a song to take their listening experience to the next level.

The motto of Samsung’s soundbar developers is to get the basics right when it comes to sound. “We are working our hardest to deliver sound of the highest quality,” the developers related. “We do this by collaborating closely with groups of experts and employing Samsung’s advanced measuring and simulation techniques to set clear standards for what we define as ‘optimal’ sound.”

The developers’ ultimate goal is to deliver a best-in-class acoustic experience to users regardless of the type of content they’re consuming, or the specific features of their viewing environment. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they make this dream a reality.

When Samsung engineers set about creating a new generation of computer monitors, they aimed to bring comfort to the daily lives of users. In the process, they built the “best monitor that is easy on the eyes,” also known as the SE790C curved monitor.

The distinct difference between televisions and monitors is in the behavior of the user. Whereas both TVs and monitors are used for content consumption, monitors are also used for content creation. They are inherently meant to be more interactive. Samsung monitors have evolved and progressed with this in mind, in an effort to optimize the screen for users of all sorts.

Over the last few decades, computer monitors have taken a few different shapes. First there was the Cathode ray tube monitor with a rounded screen. The next incarnation was the flat-screen monitor, which reduced the display distortion caused by the rounded screen of the previous type. After that, slim and lightweight LCD monitors were developed.

In the end, LED monitors succeeded LCD monitors. Although monitors bigger than 24 inches have gained in popularity, such models have one significant problem: the greater the distance between the center and the edges of the screen, the more fatigued viewers’ eyes will get.

To tackle such a drawback and bring more comfort to users, a group of developers devoted themselves to creating curved monitors. The development of curved monitors was inspired by the structure of the eye, and it gives users a comfortable viewing experience by reducing eye fatigue and display distortion.

Samsung Tomorrow met the team that worked on Samsung curved display monitors to learn more about how the SE790C curved monitor came to be.

“Following the creation of design mock-up in 2012, we made the working mock-ups of the SD590C (27″), the first commercial model, and conducted evaluations with hundreds of people in the United States and Germany in 2013. The result was astonishing. It broke the record high among all concept evaluations for previous models with a remarkable score.” said Hyung-Gi Pak, Enterprise Business Team at Visual Display Business.

Accordingly, Samsung launched the world’s first curved monitor with a 27″ screen in 2014 and then announced a 34-inch model with 21:9 screen ratio in the same year. This year, Samsung added 23.6″, 27″, 29″ and 31.5” models into the curved monitor line-up, expanding the choice for consumers with a variety of screen sizes and monitor specifications.

“The SE790C model was recognized for its technologies and performance by a number of prestigious organizations as well as by winning a CES 2015 Innovation Award,” said Jun-Ho Song, Enterprise Business Team at Visual Display Business “By focusing on the fact that the monitor delivers the most comfortable image quality in accordance with user behavior, we have staged dynamic marketing and PR campaigns around the world. The current response has exceeded our expectations.”

Increasing Work Efficiency With Image Quality

When the SE790C debuted on the global stage, its major features showed how important the image quality is for a monitor. In addition, the model provides as many additional functions as possible in a bid to raise work efficiency by adopting an ergonomic mechanic mechanism. Specifically, the monitor has a high-resolution ultra WQHD (3440*1440). Its color range covers 100% of sRGB, and it has a 3000:1 static contrast ratio and wide viewing angle. Most of all, with Flicker Free technology, it realizes a quality display that is comfortable for the eyes.

The monitor is equipped with various additional features befitting its premium quality. With differentiated technologies developed by Samsung, such as PBP and PIP 2.0, the monitor can show pictures from two different input sources on its wide screen. The monitor also boasts USB 3.0, USB Super Charging, and 7-Watt, 2-channel speakers.

As for connectivity, the monitor supports a display port to provide high resolution; two HDMI ports to connect various AV devices, such as game consoles and STB; and four USB 3.0 ports. These ensure that users can connect and use peripheral devices conveniently.

With these strengths, the monitor has been well received by users who have used other curved monitors, many of whom say that it stands out from the rest.

“Before we launched the product, we offered an opportunity for some of our employees and professional gamers to experience using it,” said Sungkyu Lee, Enterprise Business Team at Visual Display Business. “At the time, many of them thought that all monitors are the same, but such perceptions were changed when they experienced the SE790C firsthand. Some professional gamers said that it was a must-have monitor because they spend a lot of time in front of a monitor. A lot of them asked if they could keep them a little longer.”

Left to Right: Sungkyu Lee, Hyung-Gi Pak, and Jun-Ho Song, Enterprise Business Team at Visual Display Business.

A Sleek Aesthetic in Front and Back

The design team also considered the fact that people watch and use monitors from a much closer distance than they do with TVs. As such, ease of use and appearance were also key considerations.

Samsung applied the concept of an edge bezel to the monitor design to help the curved screen keep users’ eyes comfortable. The simple design allows users to concentrate on the content being shown. As the open office concept has become more common, the design of the back of the monitor was also an area of key importance.

“When the design process of the curved monitor started, I asked myself what could make the curved shape noticeable,” said TY Won, Principal Designer of Design Team at Visual Display Business. “I tried to make the curved lines prominent by applying a metal material to its side to complete its shape. This design emphasized the curves by using linear elements in the stand base. So far, we have been putting in a great amount of effort to create the unique identity of Samsung monitor design. The product is also in line with this identity. Using the edge bezel, we wanted to have users immersed in the monitor to the maximum degree. At the same time, I intended to create a curved stand bar to express it as a sharp and compact product.”

People use monitors in various positions, unlike TVs, which stand in a single position. For this reason, Samsung created an ergonomic design that enables users to control the height and the angle of the monitor. For users who use a monitor arm, we even equipped the monitor with a VESA wall mount.

TY Won and Yongjoo Lee, Design Team at Visual Display Business

“As we wanted to develop and create a perfect product, we had to have a lot of discussions and make a lot of decisions,” said Yongjoo Lee, Senior Designer of Design Team at Visual Display Business. “I think that all this effort felt worthwhile on the debut of the SE790C. I hope that our monitors will take root firmly in the market whilst having a beneficial effect on others, because our monitors are at the center of change.”

It is expected that curved monitors will become mainstream soon. The launch of Samsung’s line of curved monitors is significant because they are armed with advanced technologies. These monitors are ushering in a new era with the unique identity of the company.