Samsung Electronics Co., the world's No. 1 maker of smartphones, said Monday it will add a low-end phablet to its Galaxy smartphone lineup, which is optimized for visual contents through HD displays.

The Galaxy W, to be released Tuesday, comes with a 7-inch display, larger than the 5.7-inch of the flagship Galaxy Note 3 phablet, with an aspect ratio of 16.9. A phablet refers to a cross between a smartphone and tablet PC, and has been one of the focused projects by tech giants amid saturation of the mobile market.

The 245-gram Galaxy W is powered by Google's Android Jelly Bean 4.3 and a quadcore 1.2 gigahertz application processor. It also comes with a 3,200 mAh battery and an 8-megapixel rear camera.  It works on the long-term evolution advanced network.

Samsung said it boosted efficiency of the new device by focusing its competency on multimedia contents. The phablet can also be used as a navigation system for automobiles, it said.

SK Telecom Co., the No. 1 local mobile carrier, will be the sole distributor of the Galaxy W at home.

Samsung had previously released the 8.4-inch Galaxy Tab Pro and the 8-inch edition of Galaxy Note in a bid to boost portability, but they were largely lighter versions of tablet PCs as they did not support phone calls.

The Galaxy W will come in black at first. White and red versions are set to be released later this month. (Yonhap)