Samsung prepping 12-inch Android tablet for February launch

SCI-TECH

Is Samsung preparing a 12-inch tablet?

Relaxnews Published Thursday, January 2, 2014 6:51PM EST

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The South Korean company is aiming to blur the lines even further between notebooks and tablets and beat Apple to the punch with the launch of an oversized 'pro' tablet at this year's Mobile World Congress.

Reports have been swirling for a number of weeks that Samsung is working on an extra-large tablet, but now, thanks to , a news and community website dedicated to Samsung, there is actually some substance to the stories.

The device will be called the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and, as well as a wonderfully rich 2560×1600 pixel 12.2-inch display, will have a massively powerful Snapdragon processor and 3GB of RAM on hand for multitasking and better productivity. It will also run Android KitKat straight out of the box, feature a new version of Samsung's own user interface and boast an 8.1-megapixel rear-facing camera that will shoot full HD.

When it is revealed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this February it will be as a wi-fi only and as a wi-fi/4G/LTE device. What's more, it is expected to be one of a huge number of new tablets Samsung is planning to release this year as competition in the sector continues to heat up.

For the past six months, whispers within Apple's supply chain have hinted that an iPad "Pro" is in the works and that it would have a 12-inch+ display. As such it would line up alongside the company's recently launched iPad Air tablet and follow the same naming conventions as the company's notebook range -- i.e. MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.

Whether or not the reports surrounding Apple are true, there is little doubt that tablets are overtaking PCs and that consumers are increasingly moving towards mobile devices. Gartner's latest figures forecast that some 184 million tablets were shipped over the course of 2013 and that 2014 will see more growth still.

However, the research firm is less than convinced about the future of larger 9-inch+ tablets as the overwhelming trend is towards smaller, more mobile devices. Gartner estimates that 47% of current tablet users own a device with a screen size of 8 inches or less.