Industry sources have indicated that major players in the mobile market plan to release smartphones with 5-inch displays in 2013. The sources told DigiTimes that manufacturers including Samsung, Sony, LG, Huawei and ZTE are planning phones with full HD 5-inch displays for release in the first half of 2013.

“If these rumors turn out to be correct, these manufacturers will follow in the footsteps of vendors such as HTC and Sharp,” notes Digital Trends. “HTC just launched its Butterfly smartphone with a 5-inch full HD display panel from JDI, featuring 440 pixels per inch. Sharp also released the Aquos SH930W earlier this year, which comes equipped with a 5-inch panel packing 443 pixels per inch.”

In October, Japan Display announced that its joint venture with Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi began production of a 5-inch 1,080-pixel screen intended for future smartphones.

“While some manufacturers are still accustomed to implementing smaller displays in their smartphones, Samsung is no stranger to lengthier screens,” Digital Trends explains. “Its recently launched Galaxy Note 2 comes with a 5.5-inch OLED display and is primarily marketed as a smartphone-tablet hybrid.”

“The original Galaxy Note sported a whopping 5.3-inch display — the first of that size for Samsung. It’s widely successful flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S3, features a 4.8-inch display, which is about .3 inches larger than its predecessor’s 4.52-inch screen.”