Samsung could pull out of the laptop market if it fails to gain over three times its current share of the worldwide notebook market. The revelation came during a Samsung presentation to TechRadar at its HQ in Suwon City.
When asked whether the required 11 million global sales in 2011 was possible for Samsung to achieve, head of overseas sales Sukyong Hong said "we should, that's our target."
And indeed it ought - Hong cited examples of countries such as the Ukraine where there is plenty of potential growth, as well as the US where Samsung is yet to launch its range of laptops.
11 million sales equates to a 5.7 per cent of market share in 2011 based on Gartner figures. Samsung's global market share in laptops currently stands at 1.7 per cent.
We got the feeling Hong had made a bit of a booboo with his slides, which had the line "minimum requirement to survive in the market" under the 11 million figure.
Dinesh Chand, UK Product Manager for Samsung's Mobile PC division clarified the line. "The market is going to become more saturated...it's the minimum level we need to sustain profitability," said Chand. "It's not about survival, it's about sustainability. We're talking about markets we've not yet entered."
Samsung is targeting 3 million laptop sales in Europe this year - equating to 1.4 per cent in Europe.
