Samsung shuts down laptop business in Europe

South Korean company cites "market demands" as reason for closure

It’s another milestone in the slow decline of traditional PCs: Samsung has announced that it’s going to stop selling all laptops in Europe due to “market demands”.

In a statement published by PC Advisor a spokesperson said: “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."

The news is not unexpected, the PC market has been declining for more than a decade, but recent analysis had suggested that it was finally starting to stabilise, with worldwide shipments totalling 75.8 million in the second quarter of 2014 – 0.1 per cent up from the second quarter of 2013.

Samsung also recently launched its new Chromebook 2 – a well-received entry into the Chromebook family of cheap and lightweight machines running Google’s Chrome OS. It’s thought that Chromebooks will also supply much of the growth in the PC market in coming years, with demand currently being driven by the education sector in the US.

However, it seems that Samsung no longer wished to compete with larger players such as Lenovo, HP and Dell, and instead wishes to focus on its phablets and tablets.

Earlier this year Sony announced that it was shuttering its own PC line for good, selling the Vaio range of laptops to an investment fund after nearly 20 years of business.