Samsung pins its hopes on bigger being better

KARYNE: Hey, I�m Karyne Levy. Welcome to Rumor Has It! The show that rounds up the week's biggest tech rumors. You can vote on what you think about the rumors, too, in the interactive player if you're watching on CNET. This week, everything is getting bigger, and the next iPhone could want your fingerprints on the screen on purpose. Let's get started. KARYNE: First up, according to The Verge, Nokia is eyeing a launch date later this year for a 6-inch Windows phone. The big phone, codenamed Bandit, will be powered by a Qualcom Snapdragon quad-core processor and it'll offer a 1080p display, with a polycarbonate body and a 20- megapixel rear camera. 6 inches is heading into phablet territory and is slowly creeping into tablet territory. But it's not unheard of. Just this week Samsung announced that the 6.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Mega was going to get a U.S. rollout, beginning Friday. But this would be the first Windows Phone phablet, so why not? Go for it, Nokia. Build your little heart out. Samsung could use some competition. KARYNE: Next, some leaked photos point to the next iPhone having a fingerprint reader. People started talking about this feature last year, when Apple acquired fingerprint-recognition chipmaker AuthenTec. The talk ramped up again last month when a beta tester discovered biometric scanner code in one of the iOS 7 builds. The blog Laptop reports that photos leaked of the inside of the alleged iPhone 5S, showing support for fingerprint- scanning hardware. The pictures look like nothing much to the untrained eye, but according to Laptop, there's a redesigned metal spacer cushion near the Home button that has extra room to accommodate "additional components." And that could be the elusive fingerprint reader. I guess we'll see next month, but I'd rather have NFC than a fingerprint reader. What do you guys think? KARYNE: And finally, in other "make it biggerrrrr!" news, according to the Korea Economic Daily, Samsung is working on a 12-inch tablet that'll be released in October. The report is very brief, because that's all it says, really. Samsung's current biggest tablet is 11.6 inches. Another report claims that this tablet might be as big as 12.2 inches and may not have the Galaxy Tab branding. And, according to a Wall Street Journal article from last month, Apple may also be testing larger screens. Could this be a new trend? KARYNE: What do you guys think? How big is too big? What is your tablet sweet spot? Don't forget to vote and leave a comment, and I'll ask the CNET Council what it thinks. And the CNET Council's verdict is... YES, they do think that Samsung is working on a 12-inch tablet because, as one editor says, "Uh, they are working on every-size tablet." That�s our show everyone, share your rumors at rumorhasit@cnet.com or call us at 1-800-750-CNET. And tweet us! And tune in next week for more tech rumors.