Samsung Halts Laptop Sales Across Europe

Samsung has signalled a significant change in direction with the announcement that it is to stop selling its own-brand Ativ laptops and Chromebooks in Europe.

The South Korean manufacturer looks instead to be focusing towards its hugely successful mobile devices business, following several well-received products such as the Galaxy S5 smartphone and Note 3 phablet.

The move had been anticipated by many industry observers, who noted that the company failed to announce any new laptop or Chromebook products at the recent IFA show in Berlin last month, instead revealing new phablet and tablet devices.

The company has also invested heavily into wearables, recently releasing the second generation of its Galaxy Gear smartwatch, which features integration with Samsung’s mobile and phablet devices.

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“We quickly adapt to market needs and demands. 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,” said a Samsung spokesperson.

“We will continue to thoroughly evaluate market conditions and will make further adjustments to maintain our competitiveness in emerging PC categories,” added the spokesperson.

There has been no information yet as to any possible job losses within Samsung, but this could yet change.

Samsung’s exiting of the laptop market follows that of Sony earlier in the year, as both manufacturers look to focus more on their smartphone product lines. Sony decided to sell off its loss-making Vaio brand of laptops to a Japanese investment fund in February as part of a company-wide restructuring aimed at making a return to profit.

The PC market as a whole has been declining rapidly in recent years as consumers increasingly turn to mobile devices. Recent research from analyst firm IDC estimated that worldwide computer shipments will decline by 3.7 per cent to 303 million units this year, with the market dominated by the likes of Lenovo, Dell and Asus.

Neither Samsung or Sony made it into the top 5 largest PC manufacturers this year.

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