Samsung will be releasing the Galaxy Mega 6.3 for AT&T, Sprint, and US Cellular later this month. The announcement comes just a week after it was learned that Apple plans to unveil the next iPhone in September.

The massive Samsung phone -- conveniently dubbed a "phablet" due to its similarity to both a phone and a tablet -- will be sold for $149.99 along with a two-year contract or for $24 per month for people who have the early upgrade AT&T Next program. The other carriers have not specified any release dates.

According to Samsung, the "majestically wide screen showcases your visual contents beautifully, while still being portable enough to take on the road with you. Enjoy all the capabilities of calling that are limited in the tablet form."

Some of the specifications of the phone include a Multi Window system where users will be able to run several apps on the screen at the same time by dragging and dropping.

The news of the phone's official arrival in the states will be a relief to many Samsung fans. According to PCMag.com, some people had worried that the phone would never reach the United States. The phone was released in Europe and Russia in May.

The phone has garnered mixed reviews from critics in the early going. Alun Taylor of The Register in the UK praised the phone's upside but also said "the smooth-edged hyperglazed plastic body sometimes felt a little too keen to slip out of my grasp . . . and though the power button on the right is placed low down to facilitate easy thumb-reach, the volume rocker on the left is too high."

Others have raised the question of whether the phone is just simply too big. Thomas Gryta at The Wall Street Journal said that the phone is "going where no maker has ever gone" and that "you might need custom pockets if you actually want to bring it to a party."

Will the increase in phone size eventually put a damper on the market for tablets if users can do everything on one device? Or will the size of the phone be overwhelming for consumers?

We'll find all of this out later this month.