Samsung Electronics will soon give its Galaxy Z Flip 3 customers the chance to see their devices being customised by robots.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer is showcasing an assembly unit that has two robot arms, which can install or swap the front and rear panels of the bespoke editions of its Flip 3 devices.
Samsung had announced in August last year that the Flip 3 was customisable with 49 colour combinations on offer. However, the service is only available in select markets, with the UAE not yet among them.
Robots, similar to those showcased at MWC, will be introduced at select global retail outlets, most likely the larger ones, Samsung staff at the event told The National. They did confirm any timelines.
Samsung Gulf Electronics did not respond to a request for comment about regional availability.
The South Korea-based phone maker unveiled the Flip 3 ─ its first foldable device priced under $1,000 ─ alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 3 last August. They come with stronger cases, brighter displays, bigger batteries and artificial intelligence-powered cameras.
The company is leaning heavily on the foldable device segment to drive its business towards the next generation of consumer mobility ─ so much so that it has reportedly discontinued its popular Note series in favour of the foldable Z line-up.
Worldwide shipments of foldable phones, including both fold and flip form factors, hit a total of 7.1 million units in 2021, an almost three-fold rise over the 1.9 million units shipped in 2020, the International Data Corporation said last month.
It forecasts that foldable phone shipments will reach 27.6 million units in 2025, at a compound annual growth rate of almost 70 per cent.
"The growth in 2021 can largely be attributed to Samsung's recent success, as the Korean giant made waves in the market thanks to its newest foldable flagships," IDC said.
In particular, the new design of the Flip 3 was a "winner" for consumers because of its compact folding size, larger second display and, most importantly, its $999 price tag, it added.
Samsung is also practically unchallenged in the category; it controlled almost three-quarters of the foldable smartphone market in 2020, figures compiled by Counterpoint Research show.
Last month, Samsung introduced its latest flagship smartphone range, the Galaxy S22, with the high-end S22 Ultra now having a built-in S Pen, the signature accessory of the Note series.
Rajasthan Royals 153-5 (17.5 ov)
Delhi Daredevils 60-4 (6 ov)
Rajasthan won by 10 runs (D/L method)
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
Abu Dhabi World Pro 2019 remaining schedule:
Wednesday April 24: Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, 11am-6pm
Thursday April 25: Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, 11am-5pm
Friday April 26: Finals, 3-6pm
Saturday April 27: Awards ceremony, 4pm and 8pm
