Samsung News: What You Need to Know

The tech company is officially turning its “Samsung Free” app into “Samsung News” starting April 18.  

Key Insights  

• Samsung just launched a beta version of “Samsung News” — a new news app exclusive to Galaxy users. 
• Users can read news in the app in three ways: Daily Briefings, News Feed, and Podcasts 
• Samsung News has a long way to go if it wants to par with Apple News but leverages the latter by housing podcasts. 

Samsung just announced the launch of Samsung News – an everyday news app where users can find briefings and customize their feeds according to the daily news they want to get.  

Launched in a beta version, Samsung News will be available to U.S. Samsung Galaxy users in the form of an update to the Samsung Free app. Meanwhile, other users interested to try Samsung News can access it via the Samsung Galaxy Store. While it remains available to select phones, the company plans to roll out the new news app to “all addressable devices” in the weeks to come.  

What are its features?  

Finding news in the new app can be done in three ways. First, Samsung News provides its users with Daily Briefings that will be delivered to them twice a day – one in the morning and then at night.  

Another way would be the standard News Feed. There, users will find news from Samsung’s partners that the app has categorized and organized for easy access. They can also opt to update their preferences in settings to tailor-fit the news they want to see.  

But what really sets Samsung News apart from other news apps is its podcast feature. Unlike Apple News, Samsung News houses a wide variety of news and entertainment podcasts that users can access directly from the app. 

Samsung News partners with global news outlets 

Samsung has partnered with majority of the world’s biggest news outlets to make their stories accessible within the app. These include CNN, New York Post, Fox News, Bloomberg Media, Reuters, Slate, Fortune, Refinery29, Glamour, Salon, The Daily Beast, GQ, POLITICO, HuffPost, Money, Newsweek, Parade, Vice, Sports Illustrated, TheStreet, and USA TODAY, with more to come. 

Avner Ronen, Vice President of Product Development at Samsung, shared that the company created the news app to give Galaxy users “breaking and premium news” in an easy to access format. “Our goal is to support users by letting them curate their ideal news experience,” he explained in a press release. 

HuffPost Editor-in-Chief Daneille Belton also shared her thoughts on the partnership, explaining how “strategic partnerships” are Huffpost’s way of extending the reach of their content. “Samsung News will allow us a new and effective channel for delivering breaking news directly to users in a way that’s trusted and timely,” she added. 

For Fortune, one of its goals is being able to meet its readers where they are. “In our ever-interconnected and fast-paced world, Samsung News will give Galaxy users another way to stay current and access the latest business news and trends from Fortune,” explained Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell.  

In the Spotlight: What could be the reason for Samsung News? 

The announcement of the new news app comes amid a string of other news regarding its Galaxy mobile devices. This begs the question: Why now?  

For starters, a recent study conducted by Pew Research Center indicates that 86% of Americans read their news on their phones, computers, or tablets. This could explain why the tech giant has decided to limit its beta release to U.S. Galaxy users for the meantime.  

Other than that, competitors like Apple News have been in the news app game since the release of iOS9 back in 2015. Perhaps developing its own mobile news app was Samsung's way of being at par with its direct rival, providing a smooth and streamlined news experience exclusive to its smartphone and tablet users.  

However, Samsung has a long way to go if it wants to match Apple, with the latter providing audio stories, Family Sharing, and a paid subscription version, Apple News+. The only leverage Samsung News has is its podcasts feature, to which Apple has a dedicated standalone app for.  

But it’s way too early to judge. Samsung News is off to a good start with its beta version – the question lies in how well it can maintain its momentum.