Huawei executive confirms upcoming phablet with “giant screen”

HuaweiSamsung effectively created a new device category with the Samsung Galaxy Note, the original “phablet.” Its success with it and its successor, the Samsung Galaxy Note II [product information], has not gone unnoticed and other manufacturers are likely to unveil their own such devices. Back in October, rumours surfaced that Huawei could be among them with its 6.1-inch Ascend Mate. A Huawei executive today appeared to confirm this move.

Without mentioning either the device name or specific screen size, Huawei Senior VP Yu Chengdong confirmed on a microblogging site that Huawei was working on a smartphone with a “giant screen” (assuming Google’s translation is accurate). He added that it would be released in early 2013 and that it would not only outperform the Samsung Galaxy Note II but would also be cheaper.

Assuming that Huawei does release a smartphone with a 6.1-inch display, it remains to be seen how it will fare. The Samsung Galaxy Note and Note II proved that there is a market for larger screened devices but Huawei appears set to test the envelope with a smartphone that may not be much smaller than a 7-inch tablet. Just how big is too big?

Read more: CNMO (in Chinese) [Google translation] (Source: UnwiredView)