After making its international debut back in May, the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini will finally breach U.S. shores next month. Samsung announced today that its shrunken Galaxy S 4 will start hitting U.S. shelves in November, with AT&T, Sprint, U.S. Cellular and Verizon all signed on to sell the S4 mini. Exact availability and pricing will be announced by the individual carriers.
Just as its name suggests, the Galaxy S4 mini is a smaller version of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S 4, offering a 4.3-inch 960x540 Super AMOLED display that's nearly an inch smaller than the 5-inch 1080p panel on the S 4. The Galaxy S4 mini also features 8-megapixel rear and 1.9-megapixel front cameras, a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, 16GB storage, microSD card slot, 1.5GB RAM and a removable 1900mAh battery. Expect the Galaxy S4 mini to come preloaded with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean when it lands on store shelves next month.
We had an inkling that the Galaxy S4 mini would be making its way to the U.S. at some point thanks to a couple of different leaks, but it's nice to finally get official word from Samsung about which carriers will stock the device. While the spec hounds of the Android world are likely to prefer the original Galaxy S 4 over its smaller sibling, there are still plenty of folks out there that want a smaller smartphone that's easier to use one-handed, and the Galaxy S4 mini's 4.3-inch display could certainly fill that desire.
Stay tuned and I'll update you with AT&T, Sprint, U.S. Cellular and Verizon's Galaxy S4 mini launch plans as soon as I get more details. Until then, you can get better acquainted with the device by checking out Aaron's two-part video review or reading Evan's written evaluation.
UPDATE: Verizon has confirmed that, yes, it will indeed launch the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini. While the big red operator didn't share any availability details beyond a vague "coming soon," it did post a photo of its Galaxy S4 mini variant, complete with branding on the home button. That image is available below.
