Galaxy Book Flex Alpha Goes Live In Korea, US Date Still Unknown

While Samsung seems to have no qualms about dumping phones left and right in the market, it is a bit more reserved when it comes to its laptops. At the start of the year, it announced a new member of its Galaxy Book Flex family, one that promised to bring its QLED technology to a more affordable notebook. Almost five months later, the Galaxy Book Flex α (Alpha) is finally seeing the light of day but only if you happen to live in South Korea.

QLED, short for Quantum LED, is practically Samsung's branding for its quantum dot displays. It's a bit confusing since this kind of display still uses an LCD panel but also utilizes nanoparticles (a.k.a. quantum dots) on an LED backlighting panel to improve brightness and color. Once limited to TVs, Samsung has brought its QLED technology to laptop screens in last year's Galaxy Book Flex series and the now cheaper Book Flex Alpha.

Cheaper doesn't mean the Galaxy Book Flex α will be an underdog. It just means it will have less muscle to show off compared to its more expensive and older siblings. It is still powered by a 10th-gen Intel Core Comet Lake U processor, the exact kind depends on which configuration you purchase, paired with DDR4 RAM.

In addition to the display that's new at least to notebook PCs, Samsung is also focusing on the computer's flexibility (no relation to flexible screens) when it comes to uses. The 360-degree hinge and support for the S Pen turn the laptop into a tablet for creativity as well as productivity. That S Pen has a silo in the body of the Galaxy Book Flex α even if it actually doesn't come with the laptop.

The Samsung Galaxy Book Flex α will go on sale in South Korea on May 12 with a starting price of 1,575,000 KRW, roughly $1,300. That's a lot higher than the figure Samsung gave at CES 2020 but we'll presume some things were just lost in translation. Sadly, no details yet for other markets but it should be long now if the QLED notebook is hitting at least one market.