While the 7 inch Samsung Galaxy Tab is probably the hottest Android tablet on the market today, the company apparently doesn’t plan to launch any future tablets with 7 inch screens. Pocket Lint attended a Samsung briefing where a Samsung executive said the company thinks “10.1 inch is the best size for a tablet.”
This week Samsung introduces the Galaxy Tab 10.1, its first 10 inch Android tablet. The company also plans to introduce additional slates later this year, but won’t talk about the size or form factor other than to say that 7 inches is too small for a tablet. You know, despite all the people who actually went out and bought Samsung’s current 7 inch tablet.
Of course, Samsung isn’t the only game in town. Acer and Asus both plan to introduce 7 inch Android tablets this year. And the BlackBerry PlayBook will have a 7 inch display. So if you find tablets with 10 inch screens to be too bulky, it looks like there will continue to be alternatives. Just not from Samsung, unless you want to buy the first generation Galaxy Tab, which I suspect will continue to be available at least until the 10.1 inch version hits the streets.
Pocket Lint also notes that smartphones are getting bigger and bigger all the time. So while Samsung says tablets should have 10 inch displays, it’s possible that the company could just reclassify its 7 inch devices as phones and continue selling them. The 7 inch Galaxy Tab is capable of making phone calls in some markets, although that functionality has been removed for units sold in the US.