Since the Galaxy S III was launched some years ago now, Samsung has introduced a smaller, more affordable version of their Galaxy S device with a Mini variant. We’ve been waiting for the Galaxy S5 Mini for some time and now it seems like we might not have that much longer to wait, at least if SamMobile’s latest information is to be believed. The full-fat Galaxy S5 has been on shelves for some time now and the Galaxy S5 Active is available through AT&T and those lucky South Koreans can even pick up a more powerful version of the Galaxy S5 with a QHD display. So, it’s pretty safe to say the Galaxy S5 Mini is a little late to the party.
According to SamMobile, the Galaxy S5 Mini is to be announced soon and go on sale sometime in the middle of July, making the Galaxy S5 Mini a summer seller for Samsung. Thankfully, this year’s “Mini” seems to have better specs than previous models in the line, with a 4.5-inch 720p display as well as a quad-core Exynos 3470 which has yet to be announced, along with 1.5GB of RAM. Other specs include an 8-megapixel camera and a 2.1-megapixel camera. So, while the Galaxy S5 Mini certainly sounds like a budget-offering on paper, the device is also to feature a fingerprint sensor and a hear-rate monitor just like its bigger brother.
Those headlining features from the Galaxy S5 might not help Samsung quite as much as they think however, as Motorola now offers a 4G variant of the Moto G and an even more affordable Moto E, and HTC’s One Mini 2 has been on shelves for quite some time now. Samsung will no doubt sell a whole bunch of Galaxy S5 Minis, but the low-end market isn’t what it used to be and Motorola and HTC have excellent offerings that have already been on shelves for a long time now. With the device set to be unveiled soon, let’s hope Samsung has something fresh to shake up the budget market with.