Despite Mobile World Congress traditionally being the biggest event of the year for new smartphones, tablets and wearables, Samsung has jumped on the recent trend of launching laptops at the show, with two new models arriving at MWC 2022.
Huawei launched two new MateBook laptops earlier in the day, and we've also seen a couple of Nokia (yes, Nokia) branded notebooks announced for the Barcelona show as well.
Back to this announcement though, and the two new Ultrabooks are the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro and Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360, though both come in two different screen sizes, so maybe that means there are actually four devices? We'll leave the math up to you.
The laptops are the successors to the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro which launched in 2021, which we called "a powerful and nicely-designed Ultrabook" and "a great choice for people with other Samsung devices" in our full review.
So if you've recently picked up a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, the Galaxy Book Pro 2 or Pro 2 360 may make for a nice addition to your setup.
Similar names, subtle differences
Screen size: 13.3-inch / 15.6-inch
CPU: Intel Evo 12th-Gen Core i7 / i5
Graphics: Intel Iris X Graphics
Memory: 8GB / 16GB / 32GB
Storage: 256GB / 512GB / 1TB
OS: Windows 11
Both laptops come in 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch sizes, with the screens using Super AMOLED tech and having 1920 x 1080 resolutions. Regardless of size, it's claimed both display variants can mange up to 21-hours on a single charge, which seems pretty good.
There's good news in the power department, with both laptops coming with Intel's latest 12th generation CPUs, with the choice of i5 and i7 chipsets. This should ensure there's plenty of grunt under the hood.
The laptops have Windows 11 pre-installed and are Wi-Fi 6E certified, but only the non-360 version comes with 5G connectivity support.
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 model comes with a S Pen stylus, one Thunderbolt port, two USB-C ports, a 3.5mm audio jack and microSD slot - the standard 'Pro' drops one USB-C but gains a HDMI and USB 3.2.
Both laptops have a fingerprint scanner on the power key for easy unlock, 65W chargers and 1080p front cameras.
Samsung is yet to reveal pricing or a release date for the laptops, and you'll have to wait for our full Galaxy Book Pro 2 and Pro 2 360 reviews to find out how they perform and whether they can be a convincing alternative to Apple's MacBook line-up.
- MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world's largest showcase for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting on the show all week. Follow our MWC 2022 live blog for the very latest news as it happens and visit our dedicated MWC 2022 hub for a round-up of the biggest announcements.
