JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 18 August, 2020 –  How would you like to be woken up in the morning by your favourite South African personality? Now you can with the Samsung Galaxy Celebrity Alarm feature. Users of Galaxy devices¹ can customise their phone notifications and alarm noises to the voices of selected popular personalities.

This release is inspired by the success of the #CassperNyovestAlarm last year. The Cassper version of the Celebrity Alarm will be available for free on the newly launched Galaxy A30s and Galaxy A31. Samsung sees the Celebrity Alarm as a major appeal to those who also enjoy the Galaxy A series, which offers Samsung’s premium smartphone innovations at an affordable price.  Celebrity Alarm, which can be downloaded on all Galaxy ranges¹, currently features the voices of Baba Mthethwa, Cathy Mohlahlana, Maps Maponyane, Cassper Nyovest and many more popular personalities and their signature voices – and this number is constantly growing.

The Celebrity Alarm functions not only as a customised alarm clock but also provides notification alerts for various day-to-day scenarios – users can get the day of the week and current time alerts in a celebrity’s voice.

Not only does Celebrity Alarm provide you with a unique way to receive daily alerts, but the stars’ messages also vary depending on the weather, day of the week and the time. For example, if the weather is cold, Cathy Mohlahlana may greet you with “It’s very chilly outside, are you wearing warm clothes?”, and on Fridays Baba Mthethwa will remind you to get ready for the weekend with

“Hothaaata banna! It’s a shuuuuprapapaaaaa, shuuuuprapapaaaaa…”

The Celebrity Alarm can be downloaded from the Galaxy Store for R9.99 per download –  for 3 months*. Once a user’s desired celebrity voice has been downloaded, it will automatically be saved in a device’s alarm sound list – this is then customisable from within the settings of the Clock app. Once a user has set an alarm, they can choose their desired celebrity voice by clicking on ‘Alarm Sound’ → ‘Celebrity Alarm’ → ‘Selected Voice’, or ‘More celebrity alarms” → ‘Galaxy Store’ → ‘Selected Voice’.

¹ Celebrity Alarm is supported on the Galaxy A Series, S Series and N Series. To use Celebrity Alarm, update the ‘Clock App’ to the latest version.

*Terms and conditions apply. R9.99 promo offer available until 30 September 2020.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 19 February, 2020 – Samsung has collaborated with Vega Design School on a competition that gives young South African designers the opportunity to showcase their impressive design skills. The students were invited to create content that will be used as Samsung Galaxy themes that will be loaded on to the Galaxy Store. The winners, Dean Sartor, Kyle Sartor, Mohapi Polo and Liam Cuffley, will now have their artwork made available to an international audience. The aim of the Design Jam competition is to produce unique artwork designed by the creative vision of young Africans.

“We were proud to see the level of work submitted by the winning students and look forward to showcasing their work on a global stage. We believe that the country is rich in natural talent and look forward to promoting these new pioneers and mavericks. Their skills echo our own pursuit of excellence – design that brings the world to life in innovative ways, “says Cambridge Mokanyane, Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung South Africa.

The winners were selected based on an online poll by fellow students as well as the public. Vega selected their second year students as the first group of designers to drive this initiative. Over 400 students across Vega’s 4 campuses (Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban) were involved in the Design Jam competition that took place in 2019. The students worked in groups consisting of 3 to 4 people to design a full theme consisting of wallpapers, icons and Always On displays.

The Vega students had an open ended brief allowing them to create a “local is lekker” approach to themes over a variety of categories: sports, cars, lifestyle, nature, monuments and also illustrative designs. Students were encouraged to use a variety of crafting skills and tools such as photography, traditional and digital illustration and/or typography. The winning designed themes will be available on all Samsung devices ranging from entry level to premium including the A-Series, S-Series and Note devices.

“Samsung continuously supports South African artists and we believe that the country is rich in natural talent and look forward to promoting the work of these creative problem solvers and mavericks. Their skills echo our own pursuit of excellence – design that brings the world to life in innovative ways, “says Cambridge Mokanyane, Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung South Africa.

Vega selected their second year graphic design, copywriting and digital design students to form collaborate teams across disciplines to apply disruptive design-thinking techniques. Over 400 students across Vega’s 4 campuses (Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban) were involved in the Design Jam competition that took place on the 31st July 2019 and each team comprising of 3 to 4 students designed a full theme consisting of wallpapers, icons and Always On displays.

The three group finalists have now been selected:

Team Afronauts (Vega Johannesburg) comprising the following members:

• Dean Sartor
• Kyle Sartor
• Mohapi Polo
• Liam Cuffley

Team Fantastic 5 (Vega Durban) comprising the following members:

• Caitlin Robinson
• Abigail Gilbert
• Kirsten Small
• Zanele Biyela
• Chantal Jonker

Team Bessick and Smit (Vega Cape Town) comprising the following members:

• Bradley Smit
• Cody Bessick

The Vega students had an open ended brief allowing them to create a “local is lekker” approach to themes over a variety of categories: sports, cars, lifestyle, nature, monuments and also illustrative designs. The brief allowed students to be creative in their approach and apply their design skills with a clear end goal in mind, to ensure their designs stood out. Students were encouraged to use a variety of crafting skills and tools such as photography, traditional and digital illustration and/or typography. The Design Jam competition will allow new locally designed themes to be loaded to the Galaxy Store. This content will therefore be more relevant and accessible in various African territories. The designed themes will be available on all Samsung devices ranging from entry level to premium (A-Series, S-Series and Note) devices.

Samsung is now inviting the public to be a part of the selection of the overall winner, by visiting https://www.samsung.com/za/offer/vega-competition
Voters will stand a chance to win R1000 worth of shopping vouchers. Voting is from 9 to 13 December 2019. Once all votes have been counted, the winner will be announced by 20 December 2019.

Competition Terms and Conditions apply: https://www.samsung.com/za/offer/vega-competition-terms/

Available now, the new Glow skin joins an expanding roster of Samsung’s exclusive Fortnite content. Last year the two companies celebrated the game’s Android launch with the Galaxy Skin available only on the Galaxy Note9 and Galaxy TabS4. The partnership then expanded earlier this year with the launch of the iKONIK skin and accompanying dance move, Love Scenario, which was developed with K-Pop star Jung Chanwoo of the band iKON for the Galaxy S10.

“Offered on a wider range of devices, the new Glow skin will be based off last year’s Fate skin but will include a new colour combination based on the Galaxy Note10’s Aura Glow colour. The partnership reflects Samsung’s growing focus on delivering users cutting-edge gaming experiences and the global success of Fortnite, “says Justin Hume, Director: Integrated Mobility at Samsung South Africa.

Since launching in 2017, the game has become a cultural phenomenon, reaching more than 250 million registered players at the beginning of 2019 and generating over $2 billion worldwide across all platforms. The partnership provides Samsung with store exclusivity, with the Android version of the game only available through the Galaxy Store and the Epic Games website, a recognition of Samsung’s devices as the gold standard of mobile gaming. The Galaxy Note10 is the company’s latest and greatest offering, with a suite of features that make training to be the next Fortnite world champion a breeze.

The Galaxy Note10’s Game Booster, an AI-based predictive performance enhancer, analyses your playing habits, as well as data from publishers including Epic Games, to optimise your gaming experience depending on your unique individual needs. For those into graphic intense RPGs, Game Booster will optimise your device for better graphics and frame rates, while casual gamers will get a boost in battery performance so you can game for your entire commute with plenty of juice leftover. On top of these software innovations, the Galaxy Note10 also has significant hardware improvements. Equipped with a powerful, smarter battery that optimises power consumption based on individual usage patterns, you never have to worry about sacrificing game time for battery life. For those graphic-intense games that tend to heat up your phone, the Galaxy Note10 also comes with the world’s slimmest vapour chamber. At just 0.35t, the ultra-thin vapour chamber fits within the device’s thin, sleek design and regulates heat to stabilise your device and prevent frustrating lags caused by overheating.

Galaxy Note10 users can take full advantage of their carrier’s fastest network speeds, ensuring you always get a smooth experience gaming on the go. Combined with a powerful CPU and GPU for rendering those stunning graphics, Samsung has signified that mobile gaming is central to its design.

¹Samsung Galaxy Note10, Note10+, S10e, S10, S10+, Note9, S9, S9+, Note8, S8, S8+, S7, S7 edge, Tab S6, Tab S4, Tab S3, A9 (2018), A70 and A80

Premiere Rush for Samsung, the Samsung-customized version of Adobe’s newly-launched Premiere Rush app for Android devices, is now available for download on Galaxy devices as of May 21.

An all-in-one, cross-device video creation and publishing solution, Premiere Rush features an intuitive interface that simplifies video editing into just a few easy steps. Premiere Rush provides content creators with all the tools they need to easily craft professional-grade video content.

As a result of Samsung’s partnership with Adobe, Premiere Rush for Samsung is fully optimized for Galaxy smartphones¹.

Professional Videos, On Your Terms

Premiere Rush harnesses the powerful capabilities of Premiere Pro, optimized for mobile devices. With premium features such as customizable Motion Graphics templates, AI-powered audio clean up, graphics creation and audio mixing, Premiere Rush allows users to cut and edit professional-grade videos and vlogs with ease.

Users can capture high-quality videos directly inside the app and begin editing them immediately by dragging and dropping clips on the multitrack timeline. They also have the ability to freely adjust audio, color saturation, title placement, transitions, voiceovers and more, all from the main interface. Furthermore, users can access built-in, fully customizable animated title templates right from within the app itself. And with easy resizing options, a video can be proportioned for whichever social destination the user desires. All videos and edits are automatically synced to the cloud, so users can work on their videos anywhere, anytime, on any device.

Premiere Rush for Samsung

Premiere Rush for Samsung comes with a full suite of features specially optimized for Samsung devices¹. Special features include GPU optimization for improved editing performance, meaning that exporting videos on the Galaxy S10 is now 70% faster than on previous devices², as well as HDR10+ support and Samsung DeX support to allow users to extend and optimize their workspace options.

Galaxy users who become monthly Premiere Rush subscribers will receive unlimited video exports, 100GB of cloud storage, and a 20% discount for one year³, taking the subscription price down to 7.99 USD a month.

A free starter trial version is also available, giving Galaxy users access to all Premiere Rush features, the use of desktop and mobile apps, 2GB of cloud storage, the ability to create an unlimited number of projects and export up to three projects.

Adobe Premiere Rush for Samsung is available on the Galaxy Store and will be expanded to more Galaxy devices in the near future.

1 Available on Galaxy S9, Galaxy Note9 and Galaxy S10 series devices. Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note9 users are encouraged to update to P OS for GPU optimization.

2 With Premiere Rush for Samsung, exporting videos on the Galaxy S10 is 70% faster than on the Galaxy S9 before P OS update

3 Available until January 2020