South Korea's three mobile carriers -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp., and LG Uplus Corp. -- said Tuesday they will begin taking preorders this week for Samsung Electronics Co.'s latest Galaxy Note 3, which is expected to hit the local market later this month.

South Korean customers can preorder the smartphone on the operators' websites starting Wednesday. Preorders for the newest Galaxy line-up can also be made at the mobile carriers' local retail stores, they said.

Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, unveiled its new phablet with a 5.7-inch screen, an upgraded version of the 5.5-inch Galaxy Note 2, in Germany last week. 

Phablet, a cross between a smartphone and a tablet computer, features larger displays than smartphones but are more portable than tablets.

The latest phablet with a 13-megapixel rear camera runs on Jelly Bean, the latest version of the Android operating system.

Like the previous Galaxy Note models, it comes with a stylus pen, which enables users to write on the display as if on paper.

A noteworthy upgrade in the Note 3 is the Air Command function, which opens up a fan-type menu on any screen that streamlines access to several of the device's core S Pen functions.

The Galaxy Note 3 will run on the 4G long-term evolution (LTE) network as well as the LTE-Advanced network, billed as the world's fastest.

Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note 2 in 2011 and 2012, respectively. (YNA)