Samsung to reveal some features of foldable phone this week

SYDNEY: Australia’s central bank raised its economic growth forecast while keeping its key interest rate unchanged, reflecting little signs of a turn up in inflation.

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Philip Lowe said the economy was “performing well” and predicted growth would average 3.5% this year and next, while the jobless rate would drop to 4.75% in 2020 from its current level of 5%. But, Lowe added bluntly, wages growth remained low.

“The path towards the RBA’s first rate hike in eight years remains murky,” said Callam Pickering, economist at global jobs website Indeed, who previously worked at the central bank.

“Underlying inflation fell short of expectations in the September quarter, having now fallen short of the RBA’s target for almost three years, while wage growth remains terribly disappointing. “

Lowe reiterated that as economic growth strengthens and unemployment falls, pro- gress would gradually be made on inflation.

But his scenario is at risk from falling property prices, which in Sydney are down almost 10% from July last year. That could prompt households to retrench and instead boost their savings in an environment of stagnant incomes.

Lowe left the cash rate at a record-low 1.5% yesterday, as he has since taking the helm at the RBA more than two years ago.

The governor repeated that the outlook for household spending remained uncertain and noted that Sydney and Melbourne property prices had continued to ease.

“Growth in credit extended to owner-occupiers has eased but remains robust, while demand by investors has slowed noticeably as the dynamics of the housing market have changed,” Lowe said in his statement. “Credit conditions are tighter than they have been for some time.”

While the RBA is an inflation-targeting bank, it’s also focused on asset prices after a Sydney and Melbourne property bubble helped drive household debt to a record 190.5% of income. But while record-low rates are spurring growth and hiring, protracted low inflation remains intact.

On the flip side, the currency’s 11% decline from its January peak provides some stimulus. The RBA pointed out the “broad-based appreciation” in the US dollar and said the Aussie remained in a range it’s traded in for the past two years, though is currently “in the lower part” of that.

From a distance, the Australian economy’s numbers are impressive: unemployment has fallen to 5% and growth jumped to 3.4%; however, based on the US experience, the jobless rate probably has to fall further to drive up wages.

“Further progress in reducing unemployment and having inflation return to target is expected, although this progress is likely to be gradual,” Lowe said in the concluding paragraph of his statement. — Bloomberg SEOUL: Keen to make its foldable smartphone the next big thing, Samsung Electronics Co will depart from its usual policy of keeping product plans highly secret and provide some details of the phone’s key features for app developers this week.

The goal is garnering critical feedback as new technologies will require developers to tweak apps to make sure they run smoothly when the phone folds out into tablet form.

Samsung needs to get the foldable phone right – hoping it will reverse steep declines in profit for its mobile division and restore some of the premium cachet its brand has lost to Apple Inc.

The move also underscores a new level of caution in product planning after a costly recall for its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 in 2016.

“Unlike our flagship products, the foldable phone is a completely new concept in terms of design and user experience, which requires a different approach,” said a Samsung official who declined to be identified as details of the phone were not yet public.

“Before we take it to the market, we want to share with developers what we’ve done so far and see what they think of it,” the official said.

Foldable phones hold the promise of allowing consumers to do more complex work that would normally be done on a tablet or laptop, but with a device that becomes far more compact.

The South Korean tech giant is among a handful of firms which have flagged that foldable phones will be coming to market soon.

Although it has so far been mum on exactly when, analysts expect a launch date in the first half of 2019 – any later and Samsung would run the risk of new Apple phones stealing its thunder.

China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has also said it is planning to launch a 5G smartphone with a foldable screen in mid-2019.

Both, however, have been pipped to the post by Royole, a Chinese display making start-up, which last week unveiled a foldable phone with a 7.8 inch screen, priced from around US$1,300. It said it would start filling orders from late December, although little is known about the firm’s projected sales.

Lee Kyeong-tae, Samsung vice-president for mobile communication, said last week the phone’s user interface would be unveiled at an annual conference for app developers which would take place in San Francisco tomorrow.

Another Samsung official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters it would be the first time that detailed images of the new phone would be presented in public.

Expectations that the phone itself will be on display are, however, low.

High price tags are expected to prevent foldable phones from immediately becoming big hits, and some analysts even doubt there is huge appetite for such a product.

But if Samsung can create some buzz around the new phones, it would be a welcome salve for its mobile division, which just last week reported quarterly profit tumbling by a third, squeezed by competition with Apple and as Chinese rivals spruce up their mid-range products with features similar to Samsung’s. — Reuters