PadFone mini 4.3, 2013 pic.twitter.com/HSv1ILdY4G

— @evleaks (@evleaks) December 7, 2013

Miniaturized smartphones have become something of a trend in the past year or so, with Samsung, Sony and HTC all having released shrunken versions of their flagship handsets. Now it looks like ASUS will be joining in on the miniaturization fun, as a new leak has shown that the company is prepping a new Padfone that's smaller than previous models.

An image posted by @evleaks today revealed the ASUS Padfone mini 4.3 along with its tablet dock, which is expected to sport a 7-inch display. As far as specs go, it's rumored that the Padfone mini will be powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor and feature Android 4.3 running on a 960x540 display.

The Padfone mini 4.3 will be the fourth entry in ASUS's line of dockable Padfone devices, coming hot on the heels of the Padfone Infinity and its 5-inch display. It's kind of a bummer that the Padfone mini is rumored to be coming to market with low to mid-range features like a qHD display and Snapdragon 400 chip, but as usual, we'll have to wait until we can get this shrunken Padfone in our hands before making any final judgments about it or its performance. The good news is that we may not have to wait long to do just that, as ASUS is expected to take the wraps off of the Padfone mini at an event in Taiwan on Dec. 11.

What do you think of this Padfone mini? Would you use it as your daily driver?

Via @evleaks, Engadget