The Galaxy S5 mini will still have the fingerprint scanner, heart-rate monitor and waterproofing of its bigger brother, but its quad-core processor will run slower and its screen will, of course, be smaller.
Samsung Electronics unveiled the S5 mini on Tuesday. It has the same looks as the S5, including its dimpled back cover but its processor is clocked at only 1.4 GHz instead of 2.5GHz, and its 4.5-inch screen has a resolution of 720 by 1280 pixels, down from the S5’s 5.1-inch, 1920 by 1080 pixel display.
There’s less memory (1.5GB of RAM instead of 2GB) and internal storage (16GB instead of 32MB), and a smaller battery too: 2,100mAh compared to the S5’s 2,800mAh. The S5 mini’s rear-facing 8-megapixel camera has half the resolution of the S5’s. Both, though, have a microSD card slot that can accept up to 64GB of additional storage.
The S5 mini still represents a notable upgrade from its predecessor, the S4 mini, which had a 4.3-inch, 540 by 960 pixel display, 8GB of internal storage and a 1.7 GHz dual-core processor.
The new model runs Android 4.4, and can connect to 4G LTE and 3G HSDPA networks. It will arrive first in Russia early this month, and then roll out to other markets, Samsung said. No pricing was given.
With the S5 mini Samsung hopes to cash in on the success of its flagship Galaxy series. But there are signs that demand for the company’s top-of-the-range phones is slowing. This year, the S5 only performed slightly better than the S4, selling 11 million units in the first month after it went on sale. The S4, by contrast, sold 10 million units in its first 27 days.
Samsung said it continues to see “solid sales” for its higher-end phones, but the company wants to also push out lower-end handsets and improve the features of its mid-range models to further drive sales.