Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Lite Reportedly Gets Into Production

The Mobile World Congress 2014 trade show is just around the corner in February, and you know what that means!  Yes that’s right, lots of new devices and device announcements from companies both big and small.  Samsung has been in the limelight again lately, and it’s been for the rumored Lite versions of two of their most popular device lines right now; the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite and the Galaxy Note 3 Lite.  Both of these devices are aimed at getting Samsung devices into the hands of as many consumers as possible, and they aim to do it with considerably cheaper price tags and lower-end components.  At this point these devices remain just rumored ones, but now it seems that rumors have turned into some more serious conjecture, with Korean ETNews now saying that the Galaxy Note 3 Lite has actually entered production.  Further more they are saying that Samsung will product 1 to 1.5 million units by February 2014, meaning Samsung expects to at least sell quite a few of these cheaper Galaxy Note 3’s.  In fact they are going so far as to speculate that 30% of the Note 3’s lifetime sales will be of the Lite, which is no small feat considering that the Galaxy Note 3 has already sold 10 million units just 2 months out of the gate.

In the past with Samsung devices they usually release a “mini” version of a flagship phone that also doubles as the cheaper model.  This tends to really urk some people as they want a smaller version of the device without the gimped specs, but this time around it seems like Samsung would rather keep the S-Pen experience the same, as the device is going to be exactly the same size as the regular Galaxy Note 3, with the 5.68-inch screen and all.  More than likely this will be the first big-name phone to use an LCD rather than the Galaxy S5 or Note 4, as the change from the current full HD 1080p Super AMOLED screen on the Galaxy Note 3 to a cheaper LCD panel would save Samsung quite a bit of money on production costs.  Given that the Galaxy Note 3 is one of the most expensive phones on the market, any cost-cutting would help the consumer side of things.  Other rumors point to the camera being reduced to 8 megapixels from the current Galaxy Note 3’s 13 megapixel camera, which again would make sense since Samsung has been producing 8 megapixel camera sensors for years now and would be considerably cheaper than the higher end 13 megapixel ones currently used.  The Note 3 Lite is expected to sell in emerging markets such as India and China, as those markets are much more price-driven than markets like Europe and the US.  All rumors and conjecture at this point, but things are looking more solid for a Note 3 Lite in the coming months.