'Samsung will offer extended connected experience via SmartThings': vice chairman

Han Jong-hee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, speaks during a press conference at the Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas, Friday. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

By Baek Byung-yeul

LAS VEGAS ― Han Jong-hee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, announced the company's vision for home appliances and its mobile business during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Friday, saying the company “will take the lead in popularizing the hyper-connected era with evolved SmartThings.”

SmartThings is Samsung's internet of things (IoT) platform. Han elaborated the company will provide a new and expanded SmartThings experience on its devices so that users can enjoy a hyper-connected ecosystem with enhanced security.

The vice chairman added Samsung is working on bringing innovation to extend the customer-connected experience both inside and outside the home.

“Taking the year of 2022 as the first year for popularizing SmartThings, we have worked on providing an evolved SmartThings this year,” he said during a press conference at the Caesars Palace Hotel.

Han also emphasized the company's efforts in achieving sustainability as it has worked to develop energy efficient products and actively used recycled materials in its production process.

“Another key theme of the company is sustainability. Last September we announced our New Environmental Strategy, noting that we will achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by developing products with reduced power consumption and expanding resource circulation throughout the entire process,” Han, who also heads Samsung's DX Division that supervises home appliances, TVs and smartphones, said.

“The DX Division plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. At this year's CES, we are showing how we pursue sustainability through eco-friendly products and technologies. Examples of these are recycled materials, the SolarCell Remote TV controller that uses sunlight or indoor lighting, and washing machines that reduce micro-plastics,” the vice chairman said.

Sharing Samsung's business outlook for 2023, Han admitted this year will be difficult due to numerous negative factors, but he added that the company will be able to cope with any crisis head-on by innovating its technologies.

“Last year, we struggled with negative external factors such as decreased demand for IT products; increased material and logistics costs; supply chain risks; and climate change. We estimate we will have similar difficulties this year as well,” he commented.

“However, Samsung has been able to overcome crises because it has always focused on the essence (of its business). Samsung is a technology company and our backbone is our customers. We will be faithful to our customers through technological innovation,” Han added.

His comments came a day after the Korean tech behemoth announced a fourth quarter earnings guidance. On Friday, the company said its operating profit in the fourth quarter plummeted by 69 percent to 4.3 trillion won ($3.43 billion) year-on-year.

Due to the lower-than-expected earnings guidance, Samsung made the rare move of issuing an explanatory statement.

“Amid continued external uncertainties such as the possibility of a global economic recession, the performance in the memory business declined significantly due to sluggish demand, while smartphone sales also slowed, resulting in a sharp decline in the company-wide performance compared to the same period in 2021,” the company said.