Is Samsung giving up on netbooks next year?
An email sent by Samsung to its trading partners appears to shut down any prospect of the manufacturer producing new netbooks after the first quarter of 2012. The email is quoted by French site Blogeee and says that Samsung will switch its focus to 11.6- and 12-inch ultraportables as well as Intel Ultrabooks. The quote does not preclude some of those ultraportables running cheaper processors such as Cedar Trail, which would arguably just make them slightly larger next-gen netbooks, but it does specifically mention the abandonment of the 10.1-inch form factor. Here's our translation:
"Following the introduction of our new strategy in 2012, we will discontinue our 10.1-inch (netbook) product range in Q1 2012, in favor of ultraportables (11.6 and 12 inches) and ultrabooks to be launched in 2012."
[Thanks, Marco]
