Samsung, no longer content to just be the world's largest seller of smartphones, looks to be branching out in the tablet market even further beyond its recently announced co-branded device with Google, the Nexus 10. As numerous leaks seem to confirm, we can expect to see a 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Note tablet sometime in the not too distant future.
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Samsung Electronics looks to be currently in the testing phase for a new seven-inch Android tablet believed to be the Galaxy Note 7, if a report from Slash Gear is accurate.
The tablet is "aimed at filling the gap between the company's "phablet" smartphones and their full-sized siblings," according to tech website The Droid Guy.
The new Samsung tablet bubbled up in two different test certificate listings from the DLNA Alliance, featuring two model numbers: GT-N5100 and GT-N5110.
"The 'GT-N' model number prefix is noteworthy because it's also used by Samsung's existing Galaxy Note II and Galaxy Note 10.1, offering a clue as to where the upcoming product might fit in the lineup," says The Droid Guy.
Somewhat oddly, the DLNA Alliance describes the hardware as "Galaxy S2 GT-I9100 OS upgrade version derivative model - Ice Cream Sandwich version - Tablet," which seems to suggest a simple upgrade to the Galaxy S II smartphone, which has the same model number.
The GT-N5110 also went through Wi-Fi certification recently, causing some confusion over device IDs. According to Google's copy of the record, the GT-5100 is described as a "WiFi and other" tablet with WiFi 1/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz) support and Wi-Fi Direct, though the certificate itself is for the GT-T8025, a different tablet.
If the device is anything like most other 7-inch tablets currently available, most speculation suggests the GT-N5100 and GT-N5110 model numbers denote separate Wi-Fi only and cellular-enabled models, but until the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hits the FCC, nothing will be known for certain.
AndroidSlash echoes the sentiment that the GT-N5100/N5110 could be a 7-inch Note to fill in the slot in-between the current "phablet" and its full-sized tablet counterpart. If that report is correct, the device would be taking on Google's Nexus 7 tablet and Apple's iPad mini, with the likely addition of a pen input for the device.
The leaked information supports Samsung's recent talk of wanting to expand its reach in the tablet market. Samsung is targeting to "expand sales of tablet products in the fourth quarter and nurture them as a new growth driver in our mobile business in the longer term," Robert Yi, head of Samsung's investor relations, told analysts and investors during a recent earnings conference call, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"Samsung is making tangible progress in the tablet business. For the third quarter alone, Samsung likely sold about four million tablets, of which two million came solely from the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet," said Shin Hyun-joon, an analyst at Dongbu Securities
Hyun-joon estimates Samsung's fourth-quarter tablet sales to increase by more than 50 percent from the third quarter.