A Laptop with Tablet-style Conveniences
In the Korean notebook PC market, convertible laptops have become a mainstay. A convertible laptop is one that has both laptop and tablet functionality. Convertibles are more powerful than tablets yet have more portable functionality than traditional laptops.
The Pen series of Samsung Electronics is leading the trend by selling more than 100,000 units in one year after its launch. LG Electronics also plans to make a foray into the convertible notebook market by adding a new lineup to its Gram series.
Samsung Electronics had sold more than 110,000 units of the Pen series in Korea by the end of last month since launching it in December of last year. The company is expected to sell about 120,000 units by the end of this year.
This product features a mix of the advantages of the Galaxy Note smartphone, a tablet PC and a laptop by tapping into the 'S Pen' for the Galaxy Note series with a 360-degree rotation display of a laptop. The Pen series has had its presence felt in the fading laptop market by shipping more than 100,000 units.
According to IDC Korea, shipments of laptops to the Korean market stood at 1.87 million units in the third quarter, down 7.2% from the previous year. While shipments of laptops including ultra-slim laptops shrank, convertible laptop shipments grew 353 percent to 116,000 units from 26,000.
Samsung Electronics is expected to launch a new Pen laptop model with enhanced specifications this month.
LG Electronics, which has secured a domestic fan base with the Gram series, plans to take the wraps off a new convertible product this month and launch it in January next year.
Best Buy, a U.S. home appliance distributor, recently unveiled a 17-inch model of the LG Gram series and convertible laptop “2-in-1” on its website and later removed the page.
The Best Buy website showed a 17-inch 1.3kg Gram model featuring a 2560x1600 resolution display, an Intel 8G Core i7-8565U processor and a 16GB RAM and 19.5-hour battery life. On the other hand, the new convertible laptop is expected to come with a Wacom pen and a 360-degree rotation display and weigh about 1kg.