Samsung will not exhibit at IFA 2020, opts for digital event instead

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A major company just announced that it will not be taking part in an in-person trade show, instead opting to go online only. After early reports from South Korean press, Samsung has just confirmed with TechCrunch that it will not be taking part in Europe’s largest consumer tech trade show. 

“We have taken the exciting decision to share our latest news and announcements at our own digital event in early September,” the company tells TechCrunch. “While Samsung will not be participating in IFA 2020, we look forward to our continued partnership with IFA in the future.”

The decision comes as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge. Earlier today, the European Union announced that it will be opening travel from 15 countries starting tomorrow, while continuing to ban travelers from the United States, Brazil and Russia, where COVID-19 remains an ongoing concern.

Berlin’s IFA tech conference will go ahead in-person this September — with caveats

I’ve been in touch with individuals involved with the show recently, and it seems clear that everyone is monitoring the situation closely. I’ve also sent a followup in the wake of this Samsung news. Likely it won’t be enough to sink the show by itself, but we’ve seen the domino effect played out several times this years — most notably in the case of fellow European trade show Mobile World Congress, which seemed to die a bit of a slow death over the course of a month of so.

IFA’s organizers announced the planned return of the show back in mid-May, with a number of precautions. “While the organizers hope that the overall public health situation will improve between now and September,” the org wrote at the time, “they have decided to err on the side of caution and meet the strictest safety standards possible.” Amid the precautions are limiting attendance to 1,000 people a day, along with a strict invite-only press release.

The way things are going on the COVID-19 front, however, it seems likely that many attendees will simply opt to monitor the show from afar.

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South Korean court denies prosecutors’ arrest warrant request for Samsung heir Jay Lee

A South Korean court denied an arrest warrant request for Samsung Group heir apparent Jay Y. Lee, saying that although prosecutors’ secured “a considerable amount of evidence,” it was still not enough to detain Lee. Prosecutors filed for the warrant last week, accusing Lee of accounting fraud and stock manipulation.

Prosecutors allege that the value of electronics materials provider Cheil Industries was artificially inflated before its 2015 merger with Samsung C&T, Samsung’s de facto holding company, to create a more favorable rate for Lee, who was then the largest shareholder in Cheil.

Lee served nearly a year in jail between 2017 and 2018 after he was charged with bribing former President Park Geun-hye to secure support for the merger. The scandal eventually led to Park’s impeachment in 2017 and a 25-year prison term for bribery, abuse of power and embezzlement.

According to Nikkei Asian Review, Seoul Central District Court said in a statement, “It appears that prosecutors have secured a considerable amount of evidence through their investigation, but they fell short of explaining the validity to detain Lee.”

Prosecutors said the investigation would continue and they may apply again for an arrest warrant, or bring Lee to trial without an arrest. Lee’s attorneys said they want the case to be reviewed by an outside panel to decide if an indictment is justified.

TechCrunch has contacted Samsung for comment.

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Prosecutors seek arrest warrant against Samsung heir Jay Lee

South Korean prosecutors said on Thursday that they have filed an arrest warrant for Samsung Group’s anointed heir Jay Y. Lee and two other former company executives as part of a sprawling investigation into an alleged accounting fraud and a controversial merger that shook the country.

In May, Lee appeared before prosecutors to be questioned over the merger of two Samsung units. Prosecutors suspected that the value of Cheil Industries, an electronics materials provider, was intentionally inflated before its 2015 merger with Samsung C&T, Samsung Group’s de facto holdings company, to achieve a favorable rate for the heir, who was at the time the biggest shareholder in Cheil Industries.

Critics argued that the merger made Lee the largest shareholder of Samsung’s de-facto holding company and smoothed the way for his succession from his ailing father.

Lee has previously denied charges. Samsung cannot be immediately reached for comment.

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Global smartphone sales plummeted 20% in Q1, thanks to COVID-19

More dismal numbers confirm what we already knew: Q1 2020 was real rough for an already struggling smartphone category. Gartner’s latest report puts the global market at a 20.2% slide versus the same time last year, thanks in large part to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every single one of the global top-five manufactures saw large declines for the quarter, save for Xiaomi, which saw a slight uptick of 1.4%. The Chinese handset maker got a surprise bump, courtesy of international sales. Samsung and Huawei and Oppo all saw double-digit drop-offs at 22.7%, 27.3% and 19.1%, while Apple declined 8.2%. Other companies combined for a sizable 24.2% loss for Q1.

The reasons are ones we’ve gone over several times before, nearly all pertaining to the global pandemic. Chief among them are global stay at home orders and general economic uncertainly. Issues with the global supply chain have no doubt been a factor, as well, as Asia was the first to get hit with the virus.

An already struggling smartphone market takes a big hit from COVID-19

All of this comes in addition to an already plateauing/declining smartphone market. Analysts had expected that the arrival of 5G would help stem the tide a bit — but, well, some stuff happened in there. Notably, Apple’s slide wasn’t as bad as it might have been thanks to a strong start to the year.

“If COVID-19 did not happen, the vendor would have likely seen its iPhone sales reached record level in the quarter. Supply chain disruptions and declining consumer spending put a halt to this positive trend in February,” Gartner’s Annette Zimmermann said in a release. “Apple’s ability to serve clients via its online stores and its production returning to near normal levels at the end of March helped recover some of the early positive momentum.”

Overall, I suspect that recovery won’t be instantaneous for the market. The future of COVID-19 still feels largely uncertain as countries have begun the process of reopening, and a pricey investment still may not be in the cards for many who are struggling to make ends meet. 

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