Korea's Three Largest Handset Makers to Up R&D Spending
November 24, 2005
A recent report by the Korean news agency Yonhap stated that the combined mobile communications R&D budgets of Korea's three largest mobile phone makers is forecasted to exceed 2.4 trillion Won in 2006. Samsung has set aside up to 1.4 trillion Won for 2006, and it will mainly focus on WiBro and DMB handsets. LG will up its R&D budget from 500 billion Won in 2005 to about 600 billion Won in 2006, focusing on technologies such as WCDMA, DMB, and HSDPA. Pantech has not yet disclosed details about its R&D spending for the coming year, but analysts expect the company's budget to exceed the 350 billion Won spent in 2005.