Panasonic 4.3-inch OLED smartphone coming to Europe

A big seller according to its makers

Panasonic 4.3-inch OLED smartphone coming to Europe. Phones, Panasonic 1

9 December 2011 10:04 GMT / By Paul Lamkin

Panasonic is hoping to take on the likes of Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Motorola by making a big splash in the European and global smartphone markets. The Japanese company has detailed its first global model smartphone for the European market that will go on sale in March 2012.

The, as-yet, unnamed smartphone will pack a 4.3-inch 960 x 540 OLED display and is described as "ultra-slim D-shaped". There's no mention of the OS or any other features, but we're hearing murmurs of Android and NFC capabilities.

What we do know is that Panasonic has some lofty aims for its European venture. It's forecasting sales of 1.5 million phones next year and hopes to be reaching 15 million worldwide (with 9 million outside of Japan) sales by 2016. To put things into perspective, Samsung has recently boasted of 10 million sales of the Galaxy S II handset - a hugely popular device.

Will it succeed? We're not too sure really. The company is well respected in certain tech areas but, outside of Japan, its mobile devices are virtually unknown. Getting the networks on board will be a key factor.

Let's just hope its smartphone doesn't take a walk into the Jungle....

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Phones, Panasonic