Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 launched at IFA 2011: Super AMOLED Plus display, 7.9mm thickness, and Android 3.2
The Samsung Android tablet family today welcomes a new member in the form of the Galaxy Tab 7.7. As with the Tab 8.9 and 10.1 that came before it, this slate's name is derived …
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung had signaled the Tab 7.7 as part of its IFA slate a week earlier in its preview of the IFA device lineup. Its arrival extends a tablet family already framed around 8.9- and 10.1-inch models with a substantially more compact format.
The launch also lands alongside the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note and its S Pen, giving Samsung two distinct large-screen Galaxy devices at the same event rather than a single tablet form factor.
First-order effects
- Samsung adds the Galaxy Tab 7.7 to its Android tablet range, pairing a Super AMOLED Plus display with a 7.9mm chassis and Android 3.2.
- Galaxy buyers seeking a smaller slate gain a 7.7-inch option alongside Samsung's 8.9- and 10.1-inch Tabs.
Second-order effects
- The simultaneous Galaxy Note and Tab 7.7 introductions make Samsung's product positioning hinge more clearly on use case: the Note centers on the S Pen, while the Tab remains a tablet.
- Samsung's Galaxy branding must accommodate closely sized devices with different interaction models, increasing the importance of display, software, and accessory distinctions.
Third-order effects
- Samsung is testing a denser ladder of screen sizes across phones and tablets, reducing the gap between the two categories rather than treating each as a single-device market.
- If this lineup approach holds, large-screen mobile competition will increasingly be shaped by form-factor segmentation and input methods as well as raw specifications.
The trend: Samsung is broadening the Galaxy range across closely spaced screen sizes, using distinct device formats to cover the space between smartphones and larger tablets.