Rumor: The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini will be available in three versions in early Q3

BY Stefan Constantinescu

Published 22 Apr 2013

Samsung’s 2013 flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, is likely going to be the best selling Android smartphone of the year. That being said, some of you don’t like big phones. I used to be one of those people, but then I got a Note II and my world got turned upside-down.

But enough about me, similar to how Samsung launched a mini version of their 2012 flagship, the GS3, Samsung will do the same thing this year with the GS4. According to rumors, it’ll have a 4.3 inch display that pushes 960 x 540 pixels. Late last week, on Samsung’s very own website, XML files were discovered “confirming” the existence of the device.

There are allegedly going to be three variants. One without 4G LTE support, one with 4G LTE support, and one that supports two SIM cards. When will these variants hit the market? The Samsung rumor website SamMobile suggests we’ll see the petite GS4 in mid-July.

Should you buy it? This is a hard one. I’m not too keen on the screen resolution. Most apps are optimized for WVGA (800 x 480) or then 720p (1280 x 720). The qHD resolution (960 x 540) never really took off. It was a stop gap that the market rejected. That and there are rumors about HTC releasing a 4.3 inch 720p midrange device, so it might actually be a better phone.

Without more details, I can’t say yes or no, but July isn’t that far off anyway.

[Image above (left to right): Galaxy S4, Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4 mini]