New Samsung tablets are set to be unveiled at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and among them is the entry-level Galaxy Tab 3 7.0, said to carry a starting price of $US149.

Pointing to a recent appearance of a Samsung tablet codenamed Santos with a model number GT-P3200 over at GLBenchmark official website, SamMobile said all indications strongly pointed to the refreshed version of the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2.

The new version will be powered by a 1.5GHz Exynos processor though its core numbers remain a mystery at the moment, said Gadgetian.com in a report.

The same report claimed that the latest Samsung slate will have a resolution of 1280 x 800 and to take charge of its overall behaviour is Android JellyBean 4.2.

In conjunction with earlier reports, the new Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 is expected to see unwrapping come the 2013 MWC, a few weeks away from now, where Samsung is expected to also introduced news mid-range smartphones and tablets, including the Galaxy Note 8.0.

Blog reports also suggested that the whole new line of Galaxy Tab 3 and Galaxy Note tablets will be unleashed via the gadget showcase, underscoring Samsung's spirited campaign to further lessen the gap between tablet offerings and that of Apple's.

To date, Apple's regular-sized iPad and the iPad Mini remain as the most popular tablet choice among global consumers but Android rivals are fast catching up, according to recent reports by tech market analysts.

Most notable surge in the past year is that of Samsung's slate shipments, which clocked double-digit climbs in the last quarters of 2012 following mediocre results in the early phase of the competition.

A report by BGR News indicated too that in order to sustain the gains it has achieved so far in the tablet competition, Samsung will likely offer the Tab 3 for as low as $US149.

Such move will likely counter Google's tack of pushing out affordable but powerful gadgets via its Nexus product lines. In the tablet front, the internet giant had earlier let out the Nexus 7 from Asus and the Nexus 10, which was manufactured by Samsung.

It also looked like that Samsung is waging a multi-front war in the increasingly lucrative segment, its high-end push represented by the Galaxy Note 10.1 up against the 9.7-inch iPad and its take on the 7-inch plus class set to be fronted soon by the Note 8.0.