The Galaxy S5 is Samsung's 2014 flagship, but the company has gotten into the habit of making multiple iterations of its flagship phones. Instead of making one phone fit for all, the company prefers to target other markets with the same brand within a brand. That's why we had the Galaxy S4, the Galaxy S4 Active, the Galaxy S4 Mini as well as a camera edition and a rugged version. Now that the Galaxy S5 has had some time to breathe, it looks like Samsung is gearing up for the introduction of the Galaxy S5 Mini.
Samsung today announced that the S5 Mini will soon be available in select markets. As the name suggests, this devices doesn't quite match up to its big brother in terms of specs. (The whole point is to make it smaller and cheaper, right?) Samsung says the chip inside is a 1.4 GHz quad core chip (no mention on the name of the chip). This will be paired with 1.5 GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera in the back (2.1-megapixel camera up front), and LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and a 2100 mAh battery. This is all powering a 4.5-inch 720p display and Android 4.4.2 KitKat (the most up to date version is Android 4.4.4, but very few people have reached 4.4.4 save for Nexus users).
Of course, price will be the determining factor in whether or not this phone will succeed, especially with rumors of a new iPhone just around the corner. Generally speaking, phones that trade on specs need to be priced pretty competitively. Samsung's Galaxy S5 is rather expensive at $600. If Samsung wants to price the GS5 Mini to sell, they'd need to give it a price tag that will move units. Better yet, charge a little more and throw in one of those Samsung-only smartwatches. People would go wild for that kind of deal now that Android Wear is all over the news.
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