Samsung has revealed that it will be releasing future tablets in a variety of different screen sizes, although it believes that its latest device, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, is the ideal size for the technology. It has also hinted that the mid-range of screen sizes could, in the future, be filled by other devices - media players or mobile phones - rather than tablets.

In an exclusive briefing at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with Pocket-lint in attendance, Samsung Mobile executive Dr WP Hong said that while he couldn't offer confirmation on screen sizes per se, he gave an indication that the company is looking beyond the 7- and 10.1-inches that already exist in the range.

The executive vice president and head of product strategy of Samsung’s Mobile Communication’s Business said that, as well as the Galaxy Tab 10.1, there will definitely be further tablet launches in 2011: "We will launch a portfolio... We already launched a 7-inch last year, but there will be some more."

"But we can’t tell you the size or the form factor," he added.

Samsung is confident, though, there is a huge untapped market for tablet devices in all form factors: "Different people have different tastes in size," said Dr Hong. "Other manufacturers may have other plans, but we think 10.1-inch is the best size for a tablet."

He also implied that smaller devices, such as smartphones and the company's Galaxy S Wi-Fi range (already at 5-inches) could eventually take the place held by the smaller tablets on the market. And is happy that Samsung has that possible eventuality covered too:

"Tablets should be bigger than 7-inch," he said.

"Smartphones are getting bigger and bigger. We don’t yet know how comfortable the customer will be with [larger screen sizes]. But, I can tell you that they are getting bigger and bigger.

"Our largest screensize smartphone is 4.3 inch at the moment [the newly announced Galaxy S II], but there are different sizes [in the pipeline]," he added.

Exciting times ahead.

Existing Samsung Galaxy Tab owners have also got some nuggets coming their way.

A Gingerbread (Android 2.3 or 2.4) update is definitely coming shortly, and discussions are ongoing as to future plans: "We are discussing internally on the next update, but we haven’t made a decision yet. In the future, when we have made a decision, we will let you know."

What screen size would be best for a tablet device? Let us know in the comments below...