Samsung Sells 10m Galaxy Notes In Nine Months
There are those out there who love the Galaxy Note and those who hate it, but Samsung has managed to shift an impressive number of Notes despite the air of confusion surrounding the device. The large smartphone – or small tablet, depending on how you look at it – had been snapped up five million times in March, with Samsung reaching seven million sales in June. At yesterday's Galaxy Note 10.1 event, the company revealed that it had sold a total of 10 million units over the course of nine months.
Samsung took somewhat of a gamble when it launched the 5.5-inch behemoth, with reviewers not taking kindly to it, complaining that the device was too big to be used practically as a smartphone yet too small to be used effectively as a tablet. Still, it looks like there's a big market out there for such a device if Samsung has managed to sell 10 million units in nine months. The device seems to be particularly popular in Europe and Asia.
The South Korean company isn't the only OEM trying their hand at larger than average smartphones either. LG debuted its Optimus Vu back in March, a 5-inch device with a 4:3 form factor aimed at the same market as the Note. LG hasn't done quite so well, however, recently revealing that the company has sold 500,000 units in South Korea since launch. The Vu is set to be released on Verizon's network by the end of the third quarter.
Rumors suggest that HTC is working on its own 5-inch device with a 1080p screen, with the display possibly manufactured by LG. Little is known at this point about the device, but it may feature one of Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro processors. Samsung isn't standing still either, with the company expected to announce the Galaxy Note II at an event just before IFA 2012 on August 29th. Current reports suggest the device will feature a slightly larger screen at 5.5-inches, with a shift in aspect ratio to 16:9 and slight drop in resolution to 1280x720. The handset will also reportedly include a quad-core Exynos processor and eight megapixel camera.
[via CNET]