Check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet.
It’ll most likely come as no surprise at all that Samsung is rumored to be working on another Galaxy Note smartphone/tablet hybrid to replace the Note 2, and perhaps equally as unsurprising is the prospect of it having an even larger screen than the previous two incarnations. The first Galaxy Note arrived two years ago and sported what was at the time, a gigantic 5.3-inch screen, before being succeeded by the 5.5-inch Note 2 in August last year.
According to the Korea Times, a Samsung spokesperson has confirmed the Galaxy Note 3 will have a 5.9-inch screen, and it’ll be based on OLED technology. The continued increase in screen size fits in not only with Samsung’s strategy with the Note, but also with its Galaxy S range too. If other rumors turn out to be true, the Galaxy S4 will have a 4.99-inch screen, up from the 4.8-inch display found on the S3.
Samsung may also be feeling the pressure to go large from rivals such as Huawei and ZTE. Huawei launched the Ascend Mate during CES 2013, a truly enormous device with a 6.1-inch screen – which feels quite ridiculous when held – and ZTE showed the 5.7-inch Grand Memo off at Mobile World Congress. Next to these two, the Galaxy Note 2 looks, well, normal.
While the Chinese pair may do some damage to Samsung in certain territories, it’ll be more concerned about the LG Optimus G Pro, which is about to be released around the world. Like the Note 2, it has a 5.5-inch screen, but it also has a 1080p resolution and many similar software features Samsung loves to think makes the Note 2 standout. What it doesn’t have is a stylus though.
The Korea Times’ source also said the Note 3 would be powered by Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa processor, which is becoming increasingly likely to debut in the Galaxy S4 next week, but added the big device wouldn’t have a flexible screen. A previous report also indicated the Note 3 would use the eight-core chip, but put the possible screen size as 6.3-inches, bringing it ever closer in size to Samsung’s smallest tablets. Despite all this big talk, this is still nothing but a rumor, although we’d say a Note 3 arriving later this year is a safe bet. There’s no indication when we could see the phone, but sometime after summer seems logical.
