Both brands are part of HARMAN, a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. In 2026, the companies mark three milestones, JBL’s 80th anniversary, Bowers & Wilkins’ 60th anniversary, and 10 years of the Samsung-HARMAN partnership.

Samsung Newsroom spoke with Dave Rogers, President of the Lifestyle Division, and Armin Prommersberger, Chief Technology Officer, both at HARMAN, about the values that have shaped the two audio brands, the evolution of the Samsung-HARMAN partnership, and what lies ahead.

A Legacy of Pioneering Spirit and Innovation

Q. What has allowed JBL and Bowers & Wilkins to remain relevant across generations?

Rogers: JBL has never assumed that what worked yesterday would be enough for tomorrow. The brand has expanded beyond cinemas and studios into festivals, cars, homes, headphones, and portable speakers.

Technology, listening habits, and culture have changed, but the reason people care about sound remains the same. Sound evokes emotion, creates memories, and brings people together.

The journey from the JBL 4310 studio monitor to the JBL L100 loudspeaker captures this well. The 4310 was developed for professionals whose work demanded critical listening. JBL then carried that professional audio DNA into the L100, bringing professional-grade sound into the home. The L100 went on to become the brand’s best-selling loudspeaker. More than a technological evolution, this transition reflected JBL’s ability to connect the people who shape culture with those who live it.

Bowers & Wilkins has followed a different path from JBL. Designed for accuracy, its 801 loudspeaker became a reference monitor for engineers at Abbey Road Studios, the recording studio that has worked with some of the world’s most celebrated artists, reflecting the brand’s commitment to acoustic precision and fidelity to the original performance.

Different personalities, but the same refusal to compromise on what matters.

Q. What is one core value of JBL and Bowers & Wilkins that should never change?

Rogers: Our obsession with quality and the experiences both brands deliver. Products and technology will change, but how we make people feel — that’s the standard.

Prommersberger: Curiosity. The moment an engineer says, “That’s good enough,” we have a problem. Fortunately, we have quite a few people at HARMAN who find “good enough” deeply irritating.

Bowers & Wilkins’ Nautilus loudspeaker is a great example. The brand had already made significant progress in reducing unwanted vibration with its Matrix cabinet technology, but John Bowers and his research team questioned whether the cabinet itself was part of the problem. That question led to five years of research and ultimately to the development of Nautilus, featuring a tapered-tube design to absorb unwanted sound from the back of the drive units.

Good engineering is not only about solving problems. Sometimes, it is about becoming uncomfortable with the solutions that have already made you successful.

Q. And what must continue to change?

Prommersberger: Technology. People’s expectations don’t stand still, and we’re moving toward experiences that understand context, adapt intelligently, and become more personal.

Today, we still do a lot of work for our devices, choosing modes, opening apps, and adjusting settings. With AI and greater connectivity, technology can better understand us and adapt more naturally to our needs.

The breakthrough will not be that our devices can do more. It will be that we have to manage them less.

Complementary Strengths, Shared Ambition

Q. What have Samsung and HARMAN achieved and learned over 10 years of partnership?

Rogers: One of the earliest examples was bringing HARMAN’s audio expertise into the Galaxy experience through AKG, a HARMAN company. We combined our knowledge of sound with Samsung’s capabilities in mobile technology, design, and scale to enhance products people already use every day.

We then applied this approach more broadly through the Automotive Digital Cockpit, combining Samsung’s strengths in displays and connected ecosystems with HARMAN’s automotive and in-cabin expertise. The ambition was no longer simply to bring better technology into cars but to see them as part of people’s connected lives.

We’ve learned how to turn our differences into strengths.

Throughout our journey together, we’ve also learned to think bigger and faster. Samsung has an extraordinary ability to turn ideas into technology that touches people’s lives on an enormous scale. That mindset challenges us — in a good way.

The Future of Sound That Moves People

Q. Samsung and HARMAN share a vision for connected experiences. What could that look like throughout someone’s day?

Prommersberger: Imagine a typical day. You wake up, and your Galaxy devices are ready to help you start the day. When you leave home and get into your car, the vehicle can adapt to your journey and the preferences you’ve chosen to share.

Your audio experience continues naturally. Information is prioritised based on the situation while you’re driving, and the cabin adjusts to the people inside. On the way home, your car and home can work together to make the transition feel almost seamless.

A truly connected day should have fewer seams in it. Users shouldn’t have to think about which app to open or which setting to change. They should simply feel that technology understands the flow of their day and gets out of the way.

Q. What excites you most about the next 10 years?

Prommersberger: I think technology is going to understand us much better, our environment, preferences, activities, and needs. That creates new possibilities for sound, mobility, and connected experiences.

Technology should become more intelligent so the experience can become more human. If we get that right, people won’t notice the complexity underneath. They’ll simply feel the difference.

Rogers: Eighty years from now, people may not remember every technology we launched. But they’ll remember the experiences those technologies made possible, the concert they felt part of, the song they couldn’t stop playing, the drive they’ll never forget, and the people they shared those moments with. Technology changes quickly, but human emotion doesn’t. Our opportunity is to keep bringing those two things together.

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LONDON, United Kingdom – Jan. 4, 2024 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced a collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group to expand its SmartThings platform to support connected cars, including electric vehicles (EVs). The announcement came after the companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on January 3 to develop solutions for future lifestyles that fully integrate the smart home and connected cars.

The two companies will work together for the next-generation smart home to connect Samsung’s SmartThings with Hyundai and Kia’s connected cars, including EVs to develop the “Home-to-Car” and “Car-to-Home” services, as well as an integrated home energy management service.

The Home-to-Car and Car-to-Home services connect the smart home with in-vehicle infotainment systems, allowing for remote control in both directions. Through the SmartThings platform, users will be able to perform a variety of actions pertaining to their cars while at home — starting them, controlling smart air conditioning, opening and closing windows, and checking their charging status^[1]. And from cars, the control of home appliances such as TVs, air conditioners and EV chargers will also be possible.

“This collaboration will enable communication from Home-to-Car and integrated home energy management services that are optimised for future lifestyles,” said Chanwoo Park, Executive Vice President at Samsung Electronics. “By connecting the SmartThings platform with vehicles, we’ll be able to significantly enhance the customer experience in both the home and the car.”

Users will be able to adjust their environments with SmartThings by simultaneously operating multiple devices — including vehicles — through routines such as “good morning routine” and “arriving home routine.” For example, when a Galaxy smartphone’s morning alarm goes off, the curtains will automatically open, and the lights and television will turn on. When users are ready to go out for work, the user’s car will adjust itself to an ideal temperature. Also, the smartphone and TV screens will display information such as the EV’s remaining battery and driving range.

“This is an opportunity to make the connected car’s Car-to-Home and Home-to-Car services more convenient in various fields,” said Haeyoung Kwon, Vice President of Hyundai and Kia’s Infotainment Development Center. “We plan to accelerate our technology development to continuously make global Hyundai and Kia customers’ journeys meaningful.”

The integrated home energy management service will allow users to monitor how much energy is consumed by the connected devices in their homes. Energy information of their EVs and chargers will also be available, enabling users to adjust the optimal time for charging their vehicles. EVs connected to the integrated home energy management service offer the possibility of automatically setting the optimal time for charging by factoring in different pricing by time of day^[2], the power demand response (DR) program^[3], photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage system (ESS) data^[4], and time-specific carbon emissions^[5].

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To further strengthen Car-to-Home services, Samsung is working closely with HARMAN, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. HARMAN’s “Ready Upgrade” is a digital cockpit package product that allows hardware and software upgrades. With Ready Upgrade, users will be able to install SmartThings functions to utilise various Car-to-Home services.

[1]All devices should be connected to Wi-Fi or other wireless network, and registered with a single Samsung Account.

[2] Higher rates are applied depending on the season and time of day.

[3] Incentives are provided to participating households to reduce energy consumption in response to the DR signal during peak hours, when power usage is concentrated.

[4] Monitoring of electrical energy production/consumption/storage through PV/ESS.

[5] Carbon emissions and reductions are monitored through information regarding the amount of carbon emitted when consuming 1KWh of electricity.

Following Samsung’s acquisition of Harman International in March 2017, the two companies have been collaborating on mobile products including the AKG headphones bundled with certain Samsung mobile phones and tablets tuned by AKG, as well as professional solutions for cinemas with the JBL Professional brand. The HW-N950 and HW-N850 soundbars are the first major collaboration between Samsung and Harman Kardon to enter the premium category. With the audio quality certified by Harman Kardon and hands-on direction from the brand’s trained acoustics experts, consumers can enjoy immersive and rich three-dimensional sound thanks to the addition of DTS’ proprietary DTS:X technology as well as Dolby Atmos.

“Our collaboration with Harman Kardon – an audio leader for 65 years – is a major leap forward as we continue to push the boundaries of premium sound and design for our consumers,” said Jongsuk Chu, Senior Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s market leading display technology and design paired with premium sound quality of Harman Kardon products is a winning combination for consumers.”

With the HW-N950 and HW-N850, consumers will feel like they are in a theater without leaving home thanks to Dolby Atmos and DTS:X technologies, plus up and side-firing speakers that move sound naturally above and around listeners. The HW-N950 especially is equipped with a main unit, four speakers and two wireless surround sound speakers, offering an incredibly immersive sound experience. Also, thanks to its 7.1.4 channels, the largest number of channels currently available in a soundbar, the HW-N950 features a built-in wireless subwoofer and rear wireless speaker kit to round out the premium audio experience. The HW-N850, boasts a 5.1.2 channel featuring a main unit speaker and woofer.

Harman Kardon tested and certified the products from both the objective and subjective perspectives. The objective tests have been conducted through an anechoic chamber and mock home environments, while the subjective tests have been carried out by listening to and assessing different audio formats and music genres. The tests are done to ensure that products meet Harman Kardon’s quality and performance standards.

“Samsung is a world leader in soundbars and we are extremely proud that they are enlisting HARMAN to enhance their audio quality and play a key role in growing their premium soundbar business,” said Dave Rogers, President of Consumer Audio at HARMAN. “Partnering with Samsung, one of the most admired brands in the world, will broaden the reach and appeal of Harman Kardon and help us build our business in other consumer and car audio branded solutions. Introducing the new co-branded Samsung Harman Kardon premium soundbars is a win for Samsung, HARMAN and consumers, who now will have the best of video, sound and design altogether in one striking package.”

UK Availability and Pricing

• Available from end of August
• HW-N950 – £1499.99 RRP
• HW-N850 – £1199.99 RRP

For more information on Samsung and Harman Kardon audio products, please visit www.samsung.com.

CES 2018 – LAS VEGAS, NV – January 8, 2018 – It hasn’t been a year since HARMAN International became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. focused on connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, and the two companies have already leveraged their combined teams and resources to drive future mobility forward. Unveiled today at CES 2018 are a host of unique connected car solutions that support HARMAN and Samsung’s joint mission to become the leader in connectivity and autonomous driving: connecting the lives of people, whether at home, on the go, or together in the car.

These key innovations showcase an integrated approach to a rich digital car experience, including:

• A reinvented digital cockpit platform for all vehicle segments that has given the interior of the car a makeover;
• A new telematics solution along with the industry first automotive-grade 5G-ready connectivity solution; and
• An ecosystem of partners and solutions to further build out the Samsung open autonomous platform, along with a showcase of our first implementation of this together with TTTech.

Each new solution was made possible through the HARMAN-Samsung alliance that leverages Samsung’s global scale, R&D capabilities, dominance in mobile/TV/semiconductors and distribution channels and HARMAN’s leading connected car heritage, relationships, market knowledge and growing community of innovation partners. Both companies are also making global investments in start-ups to help OEMs meet growing consumer demand for in-vehicle technology through scalable solutions that enhance the user experience for every vehicle segment.

“Together with Samsung, we have increased innovation speed through scale, resources and competencies to help automakers focus on the car’s evolution from device-centric to experience centric,” said Dinesh Paliwal, HARMAN President and CEO. “HARMAN has the heritage and expertise in automotive, and collectively HARMAN and Samsung harness our best technologies and global scale to accelerate how we better serve the needs of automakers in this rapidly evolving automotive market.”

New HARMAN Digital Cockpit Platform  

The new Digital Cockpit platform includes a suite of flexible and scalable premium experiences that support today’s connected lifestyles without compromising safety or performance. It’s available in standard and advanced system configurations and can seamlessly integrate the instrument cluster with center console via voice, haptic feedback, and physical knobs and steering wheel controls in a single, center screen for all vital vehicle information and features. This also supports a multi-modal approach for interactions with different human-machine interfaces to allow customization in terms of HVAC, media and user settings.

The Digital Cockpit platform brings an entirely new generation of communication and ergonomics inside vehicles, allowing drivers to focus on the road ahead while intuitively and safely interacting with their in-car technology. This is made possible through a projection mode for services and apps via a user’s smartphone, allowing for increased personalization. A greater IoT ecosystem via cloud technology in the entry-level segment, as well as mid/high-level configurations, not only improves connectivity, but helps lower costs and overall vehicle weight.

In a premium configuration, the Digital Cockpit weaves together a driver’s entire connected lifestyle across the Internet of Things. Through a multi-display layout that leverages HARMAN’s Ignite Platform, the in-car user experience can be personalized for the driver and passenger via services such as virtual personal assistants, portable profiles, augmented reality and more. This also allows for the Android OS to be integrated on four displays – a first for the industry.

Focused on a future generation of shared mobility, the premium Digital Cockpit personalizes occupant experiences, so drivers and passengers feel like the car is theirs even if they don’t own it. By leveraging the phone as a key service, the system can automatically access subscription services associated with user profiles while Bixby offers intelligent personal assistance to help occupants complete tasks by voice, touch, gesture and context-based triggers.

The Digital Cockpit is scalable and made available for every automotive segment, offering future proof and safety focused features within a developer-friendly open ecosystem.

First 5G Automotive Telematics Solution and Customer

HARMAN and Samsung are jointly developing modular approaches for advanced telematics, capable of 1 Gb/s bandwidth. HARMAN and Samsung will deliver the industry’s first 5G-ready automotive solution and multi-band conformal antenna to enable secure, fast and reliable data communications. The solution consists of a telematics control unit with a modular design accommodating a network access device (NAD) supporting LTE CAT 16 connectivity today and 5G in the future leveraging the same hardware design. 5G represents a paradigm shift in the future of mobility. In the automotive sector, 5G delivers safety-enhancing C-V2X capability that is an essential enabler for autonomous transportation. 5G boosts speeds up to 100X faster than current 4G LTE standards to provide incredibly fast high-resolution streaming, immersive virtual and augmented reality features and seamless cloud-based applications in fast-moving cars. Ultra-reliable and with low-latency response times of just 1ms, 5G enables C-V2X and cloud-based compute and storage for the next generation autonomous vehicles. HARMAN today announced that a leading European automaker will be the first customer for this solution. At CES 2018, HARMAN and Samsung will demonstrate high speed connectivity in a future mobility concept vehicle powered by the Samsung Networks 5G infrastructure.

Advanced Driving Solutions Today for an Autonomous Tomorrow

Developed in close collaboration with HARMAN, Samsung announced its new DRVLINE platform, an open and modular platform for autonomous driving designed to scale from Level 3 automation up to Levels 4 and 5. The two companies will continue to focus on engineering, high-performance computing, sensor technologies, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and cloud and connectivity solutions that are scalable and capable of lower-level autonomy through to Level 5. The first HARMAN/Samsung-developed ADAS product will be a forward-facing camera featuring lane-departure warning, adaptive cruise control, collision warning and pedestrian warning algorithms. The new system combines Samsung’s heritage in camera technology with HARMAN’s ADAS 360 solution that blends machine learning and data science with augmented reality to create a self-learning virtual co-passenger to ensure the connected driving experience is personalized and safe. The new system will begin shipping in 2018.

Visit HARMAN’s newsroom for additional information about these new solutions and check back for updates now through CES 2018.

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ABOUT HARMAN

HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things.  With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 50 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. Our software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In March 2017, HARMAN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

For more information contact:

Darrin Shewchuk

Senior Director, Corporate Communications

Tel: +1 203-328-3834

Darrin.Shewchuk@harman.com

Daniel Yoo

Samsung Electronics

Tel: +1 408-544-4262

Dan.Yoo@samsung.com

© 2017 HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson are trademarks of HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated, registered in the United States and/or other countries. AKG is a trademark of AKG Acoustics GmbH, registered in the United States and/or other countries. Features, specifications and appearance are subject to change without notice.

“The cars of tomorrow won’t just change how we get around, they’ll transform our streets and society. They’ll bring mobility to people who need it, make our roads safer, and revolutionize our communities,” said Young Sohn, President and Chief Strategy Officer at Samsung Electronics, and Chairman of the Board at HARMAN. “Building an autonomous platform requires close collaboration across industry, as one company cannot deliver on this enormous opportunity alone. The challenge is simply too big and too complex. Through the DRVLINE platform, we’re inviting the best and brightest from the automotive industry to join us, and help shape the future of the car of tomorrow, today.”

Samsung’s announcement, at CES, comes after a year of historic firsts for the company. These include: an $8 billion acquisition of connected technologies company HARMAN and the creation of a joint automotive Strategic Business Unit; the establishment of a $300 million Samsung Automotive Innovation Fund; and a series of investments and partnerships designed to promote collaboration in the automotive sector.

Many hardware and software autonomous driving platforms force the end user to adopt particular technology as an all-or-nothing black-box package. The DRVLINE platform however, has been designed so vendors can collaborate and the software can be customized or enhanced and individual components and technologies can be swapped in and out as needed. This also helps future-proof the platform – an essential consideration in such a fast-changing industry: OEMs can market the most advanced existing autonomous technology, while incorporating new innovations as they work toward Level 5 automation.

The DRVLINE platform incorporates several best-in-class components and technologies, which leverage Samsung’s global expertise in electronics, IoT, and embedded systems, including in-car compute for Levels 3, 4, and 5 automation. It also includes a brand-new ADAS forward-facing camera system, created by Samsung and HARMAN, which is engineered to meet upcoming New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) standards. These include lane departure warning, forward collision warning, pedestrian detection, and automatic emergency braking.

“In a car, the human brain is constantly performing incredibly complex calculations while driving,” said John Absmeier, SVP of Autonomous/ADAS Strategic Business Unit at HARMAN and VP of Smart Machines for Samsung Electronics. “How far is that lamppost? Is that pedestrian going to step into the street? How long until the yellow light turns red? The industry has made incredible advances in automation, yet in-car compute is still a long way from approximating the power of our brains. The DRVLINE platform with its open and high-level compute capability is a first major first step toward building an ecosystem to support full autonomy.”

Samsung appears at CES alongside several of its partners in ADAS and autonomous driving. As part of its strategy of open innovation and collaboration, the company has engaged a robust ecosystem of partners across the industry, including:

• Software: TTTech, AImotive, Hella Aglaia, Renovo Auto
• In-Car Compute: Graphcore, ThinCi, Infineon
• Communications: Autotalks, Valens
• Sensors: Quanergy, Tetravue, Oculii, Innoviz

For more information about the Samsung DRVLINE platform, as well as other innovations in the automotive area, please visit www.samsungdrvline.com.