South Korean giant Samsung to discontinue laptop sales in Europe, focus more on phablet phones.
The South Korean tech giant, Samsung, has announced that it will be discontinuing the sales of its laptops in Europe, which also its Chromebook series. Samsung is following suit after Sony announced that it would be pulling out of PC sales and sell its VAIO division, earlier this year. While the Chromebook was one of the best in its category, the low price of the product meant very slim margins.
In a statement, Samsung said, “In Europe, we will be discontinuing sales of laptops including Chromebooks for now. This is specific to the region – and is not necessarily reflective of conditions in other markets.”
The announcement about the laptops is only restricted to the European markets. There is no word sales in other markets. Even as Samsung and Sony pull out of the European laptop markets, there are some firms that are reporting growth in the sector.
Industry experts believe that Samsung is trying to capitalize on its already booming phablet collection. Tech consultant at Juniper Research, Windsor Holden said, “With Samsung you can clearly see the focus shifting towards the tablet and phablet space, rather than the laptop, and that’s clearly from a consumer’s perspective where the strength of its brand lies.”
At the IFA Berlin, earlier this month, Samsung unveiled the latest edition of its Note iteration – Samsung Note 4 and Samsung Note Edge. Early reviews by experts suggest that the phablet is quite impressive. Along with the two Notes, Samsung also revealed an add-on virtual reality headset.