This may sound like overkill, but Samsung is apparently getting ready to release a quad-core clamshell phone targeted towards the Chinese market. While phones powered by quad-core processors are definitely the flavour of the season, packing one into a clamshell, with a display size of 3.3 inches might actually sound a bit weird.

Be that as it may, a Samsung manufactured clamshell device, bearing the model number SCH-W2013, has passed the authentication tests with a Chinese certification body, last week. While the super-powered Android clamshell idea may sound a bit too much, wait till you check out the other specs on this phone.

The device is said to be running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, powered by a 1.4 GHz Exynos 4412 SoC, a chip used in high-end devices like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Note 10.1, 3.3 inch WVGA 480 x 800 res touch-screen, 8MP rear camera with a 2MP front-facing camera, and 2GB RAM. We wonder why a clamshell device with a low-res display needs that kind of power! The information also suggests that the phone would be made available in just one color – Gray Gold.

The phone weighs about 186 grams, which is understandable for clamshells, owing to the added weight of the hinged keypad base. The SCH-W2013 is scheduled to launch on China Telecom, as a successor to the already popular Samsung SCH-W999, a similar clamshell phone.

The SCH-W2013, with its touchscreen cum traditional keypad input, and the powerful machinery inside – hardware as well as software wise, is certainly impressive, and in a huge market like China, we suppose there would be enough takers for the clamshell form factor device. Samsung sure seems to think so.