If you’ve been keeping up with the latest rumors, you’ll know that Samsung may be plotting to reveal the Galaxy S III Mini at an event in Germany next week. It wouldn’t surprise us in the least to learn that Samsung has a miniaturized version of the Galaxy S III up its sleeve, but aside from that German event invitation that surfaced a couple days back, there hasn’t been much in the way of actual evidence to go on. Today, however, a handful of unnamed Android developers are adding fuel to the fire by claiming that the Galaxy S III Mini rumors are “accurate.”
Earlier today, NASDAQ received an email from Trip Chowdhry, who serves as the Managing Director of Equity Research at Global Equities Research. In that email, Chowdhry talked about the likelihood of Samsung announcing the Galaxy S III Mini. “We spoke to 3 Android developers, and they think that the above rumor that Samsung is going to launch Galaxy S3 mini is accurate,” Chowdhry wrote. “Looking at the source code of Jelly Bean, a small screen size support looks very plausible, was the converged view we got.”
We’re not really sure what he means by “small screen size support,” considering that Android is already running on a number of 4-inch screens, and that is presumably the screen size Samsung would run with if it were to launch the Galaxy S III Mini. Still, for what it’s worth, there are a few Android developers saying today that an S III Mini launch is likely, so take that as you will.
But really, the Galaxy S III Mini seems more a matter of “when” and not “if.” The Galaxy S III is already an incredibly popular phone, but some are turned off by that massive 4.8-inch screen. If that’s the only barrier to entry for a decent number of consumers, then you can bet that Samsung will launch a smaller version of the phone to net those additional sales. We should be finding out soon enough, as Samsung is said to be announcing the new handset at an event on October 11 – one week from today. Stay tuned.
Why the lengthy name? A Galaxy is large… maybe they should just call it the Samsung Solar System
I got the invitation to the press event in Frankfurt today. Samsung folded the invitation a lot. That makes the invitation paper even smaller than my Galaxy Nexus display. They put it then into a second small envelope. Seems to me like another good hint at a S3 Mini.