Chinese smartphone powerhouse Xiaomi is considering introducing a laptop, according to a Bloomberg News report out of South Korea. Xiaomi has been in talks with Samsung to supply memory chips, says the report, and the Korean giant may also provide displays.

The laptop could be released as soon as next year, say Bloomberg's sources, although no other information on the device is available — most importantly the operating system it might run on. Xiaomi's smartphones use a heavily customized version of Android that the company calls MIUI.

The prospect of Xiaomi entering the declining PC space is intriguing. As with smartphones, most PC manufacturers are caught in a race to the bottom as Apple dominates the premium end of the market. Xiaomi, however, has managed to differentiate itself in the mid-range by selling good, quality products with differentiated software and services — usually at a low price. Samsung, meanwhile, has found itself squeezed on either side by Xiaomi and Apple in China, and is likely to look for further opportunities in its component business.