While major smartphone players like Samsung, Sony, and LG are said to be working on 5-inch 1080p devices for 2013, a little-known company from India has gone ahead and launched the world's first-ever 6-inch smartphone. Pune-based Byond Tech has just launched "Phablet PIII," which has a 6-inch screen, creating a new segment altogether.

Of late, leaked images of Huawei's 6.1-inch Ascend Mate phablet have been creating quite a buzz. Recently, the company's Chairman of Devices, Richard Yu, was seen showing off the phablet to fans at a Huawei retail store.

The Chinese company is expected to unveil the much-touted phablet at the CES 2013 in January, but it seems that the Phablet PIII from Byond, which has not been heard of until now, has pipped the Ascend Mate to the shelves and now holds the distinction of being the first-ever 6-inch phablet.

"Pune-based Byond Tech has launched a 6-inch dual-SIM smartphone-tablet hybrid in the country. Dubbed as the Phablet PIII, the device is priced at Rs. 14,999 and is now available across India," reported NDTV.

The Phablet PIII sports a 6-inch FWVGA 5-point touch capacitive display with 854 x 480 pixels resolution. The device is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor and features an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and will come with Android 4.0 ICS out of the box.

The Phablet PIII measures 45 x 55 x 4.2 mm and weighs 350gms. It packs in a 2,500mAh battery that offers three hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby time. The Wi-Fi and 3G-enabled phablet also has a microSD card (supports expandable memory of up to 32GB); however, the internal memory and RAM details of the device are currently unknown.

The specifications of the Phablet PIII are on the lower end and are nothing to write home about. The 854 x 480 pixels resolution on a 6-inch device itself speaks of the quality. However, apart from being the first-ever 6-inch smartphone, the Phablet PIII also has the distinction of being the first dual-SIM device in this bracket.

The Phablet PIII is priced at INR 14,999 (approximately $274) which is a little steep considering what's under the hood. Currently, Byond Tech is retailing the device only in India in white, orange, and gray. It is not known whether the Phablet PIII will make its way to other markets.