Acer will join the "phablet" market this summer with its first phone / tablet hybrid handset, which will debut at the Computex Taipei fair in June.

Acer's Corporate President Jim Wong said Monday that the "phablet" category, which is defined by Acer as a mobile device larger than 5 inches that still can be held with a single hand, has become very popular among female and elderly consumers. He said that Acer's first phablet will be launched this year and will have "special features in terms of size, camera and software."

Wong added that pricing for the large-screen handsets will be critical to drive demand, since users want to pay about US$299 for such devices.

Currently, Samsung has successfully tapped into this category with its Note series.

Acer also said that it has raised its tablet shipment target for 2013 thanks to a wider offering of new products.

Acer's tablet shipments in the current quarter could reach as high as 65 percent of the number of tablets it shipped for all of 2012 because of the success of its Iconia B1, which costs less than US$150, Acer Corporate President Jim Wong said.

Acer is currently offering the 7-inch Iconia B1 tablet and plans to launch tablets with 8-inch and 10-inch screen sizes in the third quarter of this year.