French tablet maker Archos is reportedly planning to expand its repertoire this year by adding three mobile handsets to its range of Android gadgets.
The company known for its budget friendly slabs will bring its brand into direct competition with the likes of Samsung, Apple and HTC by presenting the Archos branded smartphones into the market place at an unspecified time ‘later this year’. Some sources are reporting they will arrive in May, shortly after the company is set to release a high-spec selection of ‘Platinum’ tablets featuring quad-core CPUs and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Two of the rumoured mobile handsets from Archos are said to be low-budget affairs featuring dual-core processors clocked at 1.2GHz with 5.2-inch and 3.5-inch screen variations becoming available.
Archos’ heat seeker will be a $300 flagship Jelly Bean based smartphone boasting a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, 4.8-inch display with a 1280×800 resolution display and a shell which is said to bear more than a passing resemblance to that of the incredibly popular Samsung Galaxy S3 – one of the market leaders which it will attempt to dethrone.
The Gadget Helpline is impressed by the sound of these offerings and thinks Archos has a good plan of attack by hitting both ends of the budget scale. But the tech maker will have its work cut out for itself when trying to find a position in an already busying mobile market, particularly as established names such as HTC and Samsung look to bolster their arsenal this year with the reveal of the HTC One (or M7) and a new Galaxy S4 respectively.