LG said Thursday that it would release a new 5-inch smart device, which will combine the charatceristics of a smartphone and a tablet computer. The company will most probably showcase the new device at the Mobile World Congress held next month in Barcelona, Spain. The device is expected to be comparable in size to Samsung's GALAXY Note offering. The GALAXY Note features a 5.3" HD Super AMOLED display and a full touch screen.

LG added that it would also launch a new tablet computer along with three smartphones in the first quarter and most of them are likely to be run on the fourth-generation (4G) networks dubbed long-term evolution (LTE).

LG has been betting on the high-speed 4G wireless market in a bid to turnaround its money-losing handset business.

The company said on Wednesday that the global sales of its Optimus LTE smartphone have exceeded over one million units.