Cheap Samsung Galaxy Note 2 style phone in the works?

Samsung is allegedly working on an affordable smartphone with a large display similar to the Galaxy Note 2, which would suggest something in the region of 5.5-inches.

While this is being pegged as a ‘budget Note 2’ it likely won’t carry the Galaxy Note branding, primarily because it won’t have many of the same features as Galaxy Note series devices and in particular the Wacom digitizer and S-Pen stylus capability which gives it its name.

Apparently this is so customers who forked out for the actual Galaxy Note 2 won’t feel short-changed.

The rumour comes via SamMobile, which also reports that this budget model won’t feature a Super AMOLED display to keep costs down. Whether it’ll still have regular OLED or some kind of LCD remains unknown.

The rest of the spec line-up will also be a bit more humble than the Note 2’s quad core Exynos setup.

Anonymous tipsters leaked the new info, which also included news about the forthcoming Galaxy S4 flagship. The sources reiterate previous rumours that it’ll arrive in April 2013.

Lastly, Samsung is also hard at work on a tablet hybrid device being pegged as a direct competitor to Asus’ Transformer series.

It’ll have a 13.3-inch display and a detachable keyboard dock, but it isn’t clear whether this device will run Android or Microsoft’s new Windows 8/Windows RT platform designed with hybrid functionality in mind.

If the rumours prove true we'll likely see more of these devices at either CES 2013 in January or MWC 2013 in February.