Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Note 12.2 has made its way through the FCC. The 12.2-inch tablet will play a key role in Samsung's bid to take Apple's tablet crown.

Samsung spent a few years in Apple's shadow in terms of smartphone sales. Thanks to handsets such as the Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 2 and its latest phablet, the Galaxy Note 3, the company has maintained its lead over Apple in terms of smartphone sales. An area that Samsung hasn't been able to apply that same formula has been in the tablet world, which is still dominated by Apple's iPad.

Recent leaks have claimed that Samsung plans on focusing more of its attention on the tablet market going forward and hopes to do with tablets what it has been able to achieve in the smartphone world. We're already beginning to see some of those efforts, especially with the company's rumored 12.2-inch tablet.

There have been numerous reports that Apple has been working on a larger 12-inch iPad that it plans on releasing in 2014. It appears that Samsung will likely beat Apple to the punch by releasing its very own 12-inch tablet, now that the Galaxy Note 12.2 Wi-Fi has passed through the FCC.   

The Galaxy Note 12.2 will be very similar to the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. The tablet has a 12.2-inch display with a resolution of 2560 x 1600. It will reportedly ship with either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 or Exynos 5420 processor and include a healthy 3GB of RAM. Samsung is expected to release the Galaxy Note 12.2 in both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + LTE models that will be running Android 4.4 KitKat. As its name implies, and the FCC certification shows, the tablet includes Samsung's very popular S Pen stylus.

The latest rumors claim that Samsung plans on releasing the Galaxy Note 12.2 in early 2014 and will likely see its debut at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February. For now we'll have to wait to hear more details, but it isn't just a coincidence the company released a Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition to kick off its tablet assault on Apple this year.