Samsung laptops to be pulled from sale in Europe

Samsung has announced that it is ending sales of its laptop computers in Europe.

The move includes its Chromebook model, which had previously been one of the category's best-sellers.

The South Korean company's decision follows Sony's announcement earlier this year that it was selling its Vaio division and pulling out of PC sales altogether.

However, other firms have recently reported growth in the sector.

Samsung signalled it might consider similar action in other parts of the globe.

"We quickly adapt to market needs and demands," said the company in a statement.

"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."

Market analysis firm IDC has predicted that portable PC sales will grow by

Japan's Sony widens its full year loss forecast by $1.7bn

Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony has said it expects to record much bigger losses because of its struggling mobile business.

For the full year to March 2015, Sony now expects a full year loss of 230bn yen ($2.15bn; £1.3bn) compared with a previous estimate of 50bn yen.

The firm has cut forecasts for sales in its smartphone business as it faces competition from Apple and Samsung.

Sony has been reorganising its business in recent years.

The company said

Philips, Samsung and Infineon in 138m-euro cartel fine

Philips, Samsung and Infineon have been fined 138m euros (£110m; $182m) by the European Commission (EC) for fixing prices of chips in used in smartphones.

The electronics giants "colluded" on pricing, contracts and capacity between 2003 and 2005, the EC said.

Infineon was fined 82.8m euros, Samsung 35.1m euros, and Philips 20.2m euros.

Germany's Infineon and Dutch firm Philips rejected the charge and said they would appeal. South Korea's Samsung had yet to comment.

Renesas, a joint venture between Hitachi and Mitsubishi, avoided a fine for revealing the existence of the cartel, the EC said.

The three fined companies