Is Lenovo really trying to buy Samsung’s PC business?

Will PCs-in-a-cylinder as recently unveiled by Samsung become part of Lenovo’s PC lineup?

Reports broke last week that Lenovo, the world’s top PC seller, is in talks to buy Samsung’s computer business.

But Samsung says the reports are wrong, and so far Lenovo isn’t commenting.

“The rumor is not true,” Samsung said in a statement, according to tech news site ZDnet.

Korea media have reported that talks are underway, however.

“Considering the close business relationship between PCs and printers, it seems quite obvious that Samsung, after its PC business sell-off, is withdrawing from the PC market,” an unnamed former Samsung exec told the Korea Herald about the possibility of the sale.

Samsung recently agreed to sell its printer business to HP Inc. for some $1 billion.

At least Samsung is still grinding out new products that could bolster Lenovo’s lineup. Samsung introduced what tech enws site Hot Hardware reports as “perhaps its most eye-catching PC” last month: The cylinder-shaped ArtPC.

“The ArtPC Pulse is a cylindrical desktop that somewhat recalls Apple’s Mac Pro in appearance. It is powered by sixth generation Intel Core processors and manages to incorporate Radeon RX 460 graphics and NVMe SSDs,” Hot Hardware reports. “The ArtPC Pules also features a built-in 360-degree omni-directional Harman Kardon speaker.”

However, Samsung owns a small share in the global PC market.

The Samsung talks fit a pattern, however. It’s the latest report of Lenovo looking to grow business through acquisition. Lenovo also is in talks to buy Fujitsu’s PC operations.

Last month, those two companies confirmed they are in talks about some sort of partnership.

Lenovo remains No. 1 in PC sales around the world even as shipments across the industry shrink. HP Inc., however, has surged this year to nearly catch Lenovo in sales. No. 3 Dell also is growing sales.

The reported Samsung talks are the latest in a series of moves made by Lenovo over the past several years to grow its PC reach through mergers and partnerships with major deals made in both Japan and Europe.

The Samsung-Lenovo news emerged last Thursday with South Korea-based Bell saying Lenovo could acquire Samsung’s computer group for some $850 million.

Samsung’s PC business is described as “struggling.” The world’s top maker of smartphones has already stopped selling PCs in Europe.

“The world’s largest smartphone shipper never really grabbed a worthy market share in the PC domain and has been struggling to stay afloat,” notes the International Business Times.

Samsung recently sold its printer business to HP Inc. for just over $1 billion.

Lenovo operates one of its two global headquarters in Morrisville.