Panasonic Android smartphone prototype leaked with 4.3 inch display

Last week, Panasonic announced its intensions to launch an Android smartphone by March 2012, six years after giving up on the international phone market. The Osaka-based manufacturer is said to be in good relations with a major European telecom company and they intend to release the handset there first. After that, Panasonic plans to bring the gadget in North America and Asia, expecting global sales of 15 million units by March 2016, nine million only from its operations outside of Japan. The company has already unveiled a reference prototype for the Android based flagship sporting a qHD 4.3-inch 960 x 540 OLED display.

The new Panasonic prototype doesn’t have a name yet and there isn’t much info about its specs, but we do know it will pack a NFC chip after seeing the logo on its back. The device will be waterproof and dustproof just like many of the Japanese gadget. It has a really slim D-shaped design and a rear-facing camera, and so far it seems to come in silver or black color.

Its designers haven’t followed the Apple iPhone models, like most of smartphones out there, placing the speaker off-center and having the corners squared-off. The handset is said to be target businessmen between 30 and 40.

Panasonic smartphone prototype

Panasonic sells a bunch of Android-powered devices in Japan, including tablets or the Lumix gadgets with standard specs like 13.2 MP cameras and waterproofing. The company will be taking a page from Sony’s book by mixing its mobile phones other Panasonic gadgets such controlling networked Blu-ray players or Smart TVs.

The rival firm Sony is also stepping up in the smartphones market by buying out Ericsson’s half of their joint business for 1.05 billion euros. Panasonic was a force to reckon when the mobile phone market start growing. However, they failed to spot the smartphone business potential and now it looks like they will attempt to try something different after cutting its lossmaking TV division.

The Android device will be made at a facility in Malaysia which already makes phones for the domestic stores. It’s still early to say but despite the market growth even Taiwan’s HTC struggles to compete with Apple and Samsung so Panasonic will definitlly have to bring its A game to survive.

Via: TheVerge