Samsung is exiting the European PC market due to poor market demand. The South Korean electronics giant will cease distributing its Windows and Chromebook laptop ranges in Europe. However Samsung says that this is a region specific decision and other world markets aren't impacted.
PCAdvisor broke the news and garnered a statement about the decision from a Samsung spokesperson. "We quickly adapt to market needs and demands. In Europe, we will be discontinuing sales of laptops including Chromebooks for now," said the representative. "This is specific to the region – and is not necessarily reflective of conditions in other markets".
It was notable that, despite Samsung's strong presence at the recent IFA show with many new tech products being launched, there wasn't a single new laptop or PC device announced. The "for now" in the above official statement suggests that Samsung is keeping its options open. The spokesperson added "We will continue to thoroughly evaluate market conditions and will make further adjustments to maintain our competitiveness in emerging PC categories".
What would prompt Samsung to re-enter the European PC market? It sounds like if the firm saw strong demand for devices like Wintel 2-in-1s and convertibles denting the Android tablet market - that could be a trigger. As such devices encroach upon Android tablet price territory that could happen in the next few months.
It's quite surprising to hear from the first company to withdraw Chromebooks from a market. The Google PR machine is always telling us how successful these connected netbook machines are and Samsung is a major partner.
We don't have any information upon the jobs impact of Samsung's move, if any. Sony made a similar, but more dramatic, decision to completely offload its VAIO PC business earlier this year, which resulted in 5,000 job cuts.
