Following the release of the wildly successful Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, rumors of a mini version of the flagship were plentiful. Samsung was among the first manufacturers to sell a smaller variant of their larger flagship, with the Samsung Galaxy S4 being their first flagship to have a mini sold alongside it; a subsequent Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini was sold alongside its larger counterpart the following year. But as the months passed this year with little to no sign of a Samsung Galaxy S6 mini making an appearance, most just safely assumed that it wasn’t going to happen this year.
However, despite the fact that we’re just days away from the end of 2015, it seems we can’t quite quash those rumors completely. GSM Arena reports that UAE-based retailer LetsTango has a listing up for the Samsung Galaxy S6 mini, along with some specifications for the device. Although it isn’t officially for sale yet, you can apparently sign up to be notified of when it will be.
As for the specifications listed, the Galaxy S6 Mini would allegedly have a 4.6-inch AMOLED display, a 1.8 GHz hexa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 15-megapixel rear-facing shooter and a 5-megapixel camera on the front. The device also says it features a fingerprint sensor and has a non-removable battery, and would run Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box.
I’m skeptical of whether it could be real or not. It seems a little late in the game for an S6 Mini to be released. If we’re going off of recent history, Samsung should be gearing up to release their next Galaxy S variant in the next few months or so. The holidays have also just passed, which would be a big missed opportunity as well. Also, I’m not sure how a device that hasn’t yet been released managed to acquire a 4.9-star rating and 3,322 reviews, but I imagine that’s just a placeholder.
With all of that in mind, people who are interested in “smaller” smartphones have slim pickings these days for anything fancy, so it’s not like a Galaxy S6 Mini would be a lost cause. When it comes to flagship smartphones that have less than a 5-inch display, you basically have the iPhone (not the Plus) and if you’re lucky and live in the right parts of the world you have easy access to Sony’s Z Compact series. In fact, when it comes to Android devices, Sony’s Z Compact devices are some of the best in the business because it resembles so closely to the original Z series. Sony’s “mini” flagships lose very little during the shrinking process, which is why many people who still value small smartphones love the Compact.
Companies like Samsung and HTC, who have made minis for their larger flagships in the past, have always made big compromises for the smaller handsets. The small handsets might look like the flagship and have the brand name, but in the end it always seemed like you were paying more money than the phone was worth considering the drop in specs most minis had. When Sony came along with the Compact, the view that such compromises were “necessary” diminished; Sony essentially voided that excuse.
Perhaps that’s why we haven’t seen a Galaxy S6 Mini yet. Maybe Samsung needed to take a little longer to make this Mini as close to the larger version as possible. If so, I think that would be great. I know that my expectations for mini flagships have changed once I discovered the Compact. After my brief stint with the Z3C earlier this year, I know that it’s possible. Is it a little late in the game for an S6 Mini to surface? Probably, but I think if they followed Sony’s guidelines to mini smartphones then it could still sell decently. I know that I would be interested in an S6 Mini.
Readers, what do you think? Do you think it’s too late for a Samsung Galaxy S6 Mini? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!