Samsung president: Mobile division will bounce back quickly
President D.J. Lee says the Galaxy Note 4 smartphone/tablet hybrid, set for release in mid-October, has shown strong preorder sales.
Samsung President D.J. Lee said Wednesday that the company's mobile business will recover quickly due to "its strong fundamentals and technological prowess."
The Galaxy Note 4 smartphone-tablet hybrid is showing strong preorder sales, Lee said at a press conference, Reuters reported. He did not reveal specific sales numbers.
In late July, Samsung reported a weak second quarter and warned that the second half of the year would "remain a challenge." The company had been counting on the latest versions of its flagship devices, such as the Galaxy S5 smartphone and Galaxy Tab S tablet, to boost results, but competition has been fierce.
In contrast, Apple sold 10 million of its latest iPhones last weekend, its first weekend of sales -- a feat that Apple CEO Tim Cook said "exceeded our expectations."
In related news, PC Advisor reports that Samsung is planning to exit the laptop and Chromebook market, at least in Europe.
A Samsung spokesman told the publication: "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. We will continue to thoroughly evaluate market conditions and will make further adjustments to maintain our competitiveness in emerging PC categories."
Samsung has been quiet on the laptop front this year, revealing only the Ativ Book 9 Plus and Lite ranges, with nothing new unveiled at IFA 2014 earlier this month in Berlin.
This story originally posted as "Samsung President: Mobile business will recover" on ZDNet.