Tesco is to launch an own-branded smartphone later this year.
Following on from the immense success of the Tesco Hudl tablet, the UK’s biggest supermarket will release its own smartphone before the year is out.
This is now mere internet rumour, either. Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke has told the BBC of his company’s mobile plans.
Like the Hudl, the new Tesco smartphone will come preinstalled with a number of Tesco services. However, it won’t follow the Hudl’s cheap and cheerful hardware specifications.
Rather, the Tesco smartphone will be a high-end Android phone with specs that are comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S5, one of the current smartphone big-hitters in terms of pure performance.
As such, it’s likely to cost a great deal more than the £119 Hudl tablet, though it will still be "aggressively priced."
All of which makes us think of China’s OnePlus One, which offers Galaxy S5-like specs for just £229. That’s less than half the price of Samsung’s flagship phone, and the Tesco smartphone could follow suit.
Going back to the Hudl tablet, Clarke also revealed that a refreshed Hudl 2 will be released in September, which will be a year to the month since the launch of the original.
There are no details on the Hudl 2’s specifications as yet, but we’d be surprised if it didn’t represent a modest boost over the original with a similarly wallet-friendly price tag.
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