Samsung | Pakistan

Samsung launched its first triple-folding phone on Tuesday, a special-edition product with an eyewatering price tag placing it out of the reach of the average consumer. The Galaxy Z TriFold will go on sale on December 12 and costs more than twice as much as the new iPhone 17 at $2,443. Super thin, it unfolds to a 10-inch (25.4 centimetre) display, offering “increased possibilities for creating and working”, the South Korean tech giant said. The triple fold function is not world-first — China’s Huawei beat Samsung to the punch last year with a phone at a similarly exorbitant price. Growth has been patchy in the competitive smartphone market, pushing makers to find new, eye-catching ways to differentiate their products. Offered solely in a black design, Samsung’s new device comes in at 309 grammes (10.9 ounces) and at its thinnest point measures less than 0.2 inches. Generative artificial intelligence features are integrated into the phone, which can give real-time help through screen or camera sharing. Samsung...

Samsung has asked an Indian tribunal to quash a $520 million tax demand for allegedly misclassifying imports of networking gear, arguing officials were aware of the practice as India’s Reliance imported the same component in a similar manner for years, documents show. Samsung becomes the second major foreign company in recent months to challenge an Indian tax demand. Volkswagen has sued Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in court for a record demand of $1.4 billion for misclassifying its component imports. In the Samsung case, tax authorities in January asked Samsung to pay $520m for evading the 10-20 per cent tariffs by misclassifying imports of a key mobile tower equipment, which it then sold to billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s telecom giant, Reliance Jio, from 2018 to 2021. In its 281-page challenge at the Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal in Mumbai, Samsung criticises Indian authorities for being “fully aware” of the business model as Reliance had a “long-established practice” of importi...