Samsung’s Galaxy Book3 controls more than half of Korea’s laptop market

When Samsung Electronics Co. reported the worst quarterly loss for its semiconductor business last month, it found hope and relief in its mobile business, which posted solid earnings powered by the successful launch of the Galaxy S23 smartphone.

The South Korean tech giant now has one more reason to be hopeful that its mobile business will post better earnings in the coming quarters.

According to market researcher IDC, Samsung accounted for 52% of Korea’s domestic laptop computer market in the first quarter thanks to the success of its latest notebook series, the Galaxy Book3.

While Samsung has been the dominant player in the local laptop market since 1995, it is the first time that the company has seen its market share rise above 50% since the first quarter of 2015 when it garnered a 51.5% share.

The latest figure represents an increase of 17.8 percentage points from the year-earlier period when it posted a 34.2% share of the Korean laptop market.

IDC estimated that 1.08 million laptops were sold in the Korean market in the first three months of the year, meaning Samsung likely sold 561,600 units during the period.

‘ROH TAE-BOOK’ OR ‘GOD TAE-BOOK’

Samsung unveiled three new notebook computers – the Galaxy Book3 Ultra, Book3 Pro 360 and Book3 Pro – during the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event in San Francisco in February.

The Galaxy Book3 series, its latest flagship PC lineup, features ultra-high-performance computing as well as enhanced connectivity, making the notebooks “an ideal companion” for its Galaxy S23 series smartphones, it said.

Roh Tae-moon, also known as TM Roh, president and head of Samsung’s Mobile eXperience (MX) Business, said Samsung hopes its latest Galaxy laptop series will compete with archrival Apple Inc.’s high-end line of MacBook series.

The Galaxy Book3 has been a global hit since its release.

Samsung said last month the cumulative global sales of the premium laptop were 2.5 times higher than that of its predecessor.

Its consumer reception has grown such that it has led to the term Roh Tae-book, a portmanteau of the name of Roh Tae-moon, who led the line's launch, and the word notebook. The Galaxy Book3 is also called God Tae-book.

GALAXY ENTHUSIASTS

Roh said the Galaxy Book3 is tailor-made for Galaxy enthusiasts looking for ultra-high computing performance and a connected experience to maximize productivity and creativity.

When linked to Microsoft’s Phone Link, which has on-the-go productivity features, the Galaxy Books3 series allows users to enjoy seamless phone-to-PC connectivity across operating systems, according to Samsung.

Intel’s new processor will make the Galaxy Book3 series the fastest Galaxy Book to date, it said.

Also, for the first time, Samsung used its Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, previously reserved for its premium smartphones, in the Galaxy Book3 Ultra and Pro series.

Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer by volume but lags Apple by a large margin in the premium segment.

Write to IK-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.