By Bahk Eun-ji
Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it has decided to stop using its Ativ brand name in the domestic market.
Since the company introduced the Ativ brand last year, Samsung’s laptops have been branded as Ativ Book, and tablets, Ativ Tab.
However, it decided to drop the brand as its products are easy to name without it. Instead, it will use Samsung Notebook plus series numbers like, for example, Samsung Notebook 9 2015.
The company has been on course toward downsizing its PC business. It withdrew from the laptop segment in Europe at the end of September and from South Africa in May.
It said the reason was “aligned with the evolution of the technology market and changing end user demands,” in a statement at the time.
It accounted for 2.4 percent of the global notebook shipments in the three months to June, down from 7.8 percent a year earlier, according to TrandForce, a market researcher.
“Some big companies are leaving the market slowly, like Samsung and Sony,” the report said.
It said the low pricing of PCs is the main reason for the market change.
Instead of the Ativ brand, Samsung will focus on its own name laptop series.
Samsung’s community blog, SamMobile confirmed that the company plans to update the hardware of four of its notebooks, while keeping the design unchanged.