Nokia to launch large-screen smartphones next month: sources

Nokia plans to unveil new, large-screen mobile handsets next month to revamp its Lumia smartphone lineup and challenge rival Samsung’s dominance in increasingly popular phablet devices, sources said.

Nokia has developed more than one new mobile device and is due to announce them at an event in New York in late September, said the sources familiar with the plan.

The sources would not elaborate on details such as specifications and price but said the new models will include a phablet, a common name for smartphones with screens over 5 inches. Technology blogs have also said that Nokia plans to launch a tablet device.

Nokia officials were not immediately available for comment.

The move comes as the Finnish mobile phone company, which has fallen behind Samsung and Apple in smartphones, has stepped up its pace of product launches in the past year in a bid to stem a decline in sales.

Market leader Samsung has led the way in phablets, proving wrong early critics who said they were too clunky. Apple is the top seller of tablet devices.

Analysts expect demand for large screens to grow further as more consumers watch videos and look at photographs on their smartphones.