Four-inch Samsung Galaxy S III Mini To Challenge iPhone 5

Samsung Mobile has confirmed speculation that the South Korean company is working on a smaller version of its best-selling Galaxy S III.

It was presumed that the smartphone would be a stripped-down, entry-level model but Samsung has said that the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini will be as powerful as the original Galaxy S III, and the leaked specifications from German website MobileGeeks appear to confirm this.

According to Samsung’s head of mobile JK Shin, the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini will feature the same processor as its big brother, but will have a form factor closer to that of the iPhone 5. Despite being called ‘mini’, the device will feature a four-inch screen and Samsung is expected to officially unveil the smartphone in Frankfurt on Thursday.

Honey, I shrunk the Galaxy S III

Information obtained by MobileGeeks suggests that the smaller display will have a resolution of 800 × 480 pixels and will be powered by a 1 GHz multi-core processor and Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It will however only have half of the Samsung Galaxy S III’s 2GB of RAM.

The Galaxy S III Mini will also apparently feature an SD card slot that enables owners to expand memory to 32 GB, a micro USB port and NFC support. It will also carry a smaller 1500 mAh battery, a downgraded 5 megapixel camera and a ‘mini’ price tag of €399 (£320).

The company is also planning to release Windows Phone 8 smartphones, to compete with Nokia’s Lumia line-up.

Strong sales of the original Galaxy S III helped Samsung post record $7.3 billion operating profit in the last quarter, despite the fact it lost to Apple in a much-publicised $1 billion patent lawsuit.

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