Published in Mobiles

Samsung working on 7-inch phone

by on25 April 2014



Will someone please put an end to the lunacy?

Samsung is said to be working on a 7-inch tablet which is essentially an oversized phablet rather than a tablet. Samsung pioneered the phablet space three years ago with the Galaxy Note and since then it has introduced three generations of the wildly popular phablet, as well as a few cheap Galaxy Mega models.

The new device, designated SM-T2558, is supposed to be a tablet, but it doesn’t really look like one, does it? Like the Mega series it is not a high-end product. It is said to be based on a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC and it has 1.5GB of RAM. The 7-inch screen is a 720p unit, not a 1080p job. For some reason Asian consumers are crazy about phablets, especially oversized ones. That was the whole point of launching the Galaxy Mega 6.3, but at 7 inches Samsung is really pushing it. There are a few Chinese vendors with 7-inch tablet/phablet devices, but this is the first time a big player has decided to design such a contraption.

samsung-sm-t2558

As you can assume, we’re not huge fans of the concept and the madness really needs to stop. However, Samsung can’t be blamed for designing such devices, as there is clearly a big market for them. That's sort of what capitalism is all about. As long as consumers demand 6- to 7-inch phones, someone will be there to cater to their needs, so it may as well be Samsung. We’ve gone from 4-inch flagships to 7-inch phablets in the space of just four years. Sooner or later someone will launch an 8-inch phone. It is bound to happen. As long as there are people willing to lug along a 7-inch phone and actually use it in public, we will keep seeing even bigger designs.

As pointless and silly as they seem, some people are clearly willing to spend money on them. Trouble is, there are quite a few sane people who want top notch specs in a small package, they want phones like the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. It seems they are the silent minority, though.

Via Sammobile.

Last modified on 25 April 2014
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