Tesco has abandoned its smartphone plans to focus on its tablet

Tesco makes its own affordable range of everyday products for penny-conscious consumers, and last year the supermarket extended this concept to tablets. The Hudl slate wasn’t just cheap, but also the perfect vehicle for showcasing Tesco’s various streaming services. Despite a few hardware teething problems, the Hudl has gone on to sell over half a million units, prompting the commission of a sequel earlier this year. Alongside the Hudl 2, Tesco also said it would launch an affordable Android smartphone, but now the chain’s announced those plans have been shelved while it focuses on the new tablet, which is due out “in the next few weeks.”

Supermarket chain Tesco has ditched its plans to create its own smartphone, citing the competitive nature of the smartphone market for its decision. The Hudl smartphone was only announced in May, with Tesco’s Chief executive Philip Clarke telling the BBC that the phone would be comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S5. Tesco had been keen on capitalising on the success of its budget Hudl tablet, which has sold more than half a million units. A new version of the Hudl tablet was also expected to launch later this year. Plans for launching the Hudl smartphone have now been put on hold, perhaps indefinitely, according to Robin Terrell, Tesco’s multichannel director. In a statement reported by MarketingWeek, Terrell said that “[w]e were confident that we could offer customers something we saw was lacking in the mobile market: an affordable, quality 4G smartphone handset”. Since then, however, a slew of affordable 4G smartphones have been launched, including the EE Kestrel and the Moto G 4G, and even more have been announced recently at IFA 2014.