Amid reports that Apple’s newest iPad will launch next month, Samsung is unveiling its Galaxy Tab 2, set to go on sale about the exact same time. Samsung says the new tablet will launch around the world next month, starting in the United Kingdom. Weighing in at less than 13 ounces (344 g) the Galaxy Tab 2 runs Android 4.0 on a 7-inch display, is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor and is available in 3G and WiFi versions. Meanwhile, Apple’s newest iPad offering is reportedly set to run on Verizon and AT&T’s 4G LTE networks.
Samsung’s first version of the Galaxy Tab has been offered and subsidized by all four major U.S. carriers, but there is no word yet on whether they will all carry the Tab 2. So far the Samsung tablets have been distant followers of the iPad, with Apple selling more than 15 million of the tablets just in the last quarter of 2011. Samsung does not break out tablet sales in its public information. Analysts at Strategy Analytics estimate that about 10.5 million Android tablets shipped in the fourth quarter of last year, of which a healthy percentage were likely Galaxy Tabs.
Apple and Samsung have also been fighting an intense legal battle that has been particularly vitriolic in Europe. Apple claims that in some instances Apple’s design infringed upon its patents, and succeeded in getting the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 pulled from some European markets this summer.
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