Samsung to answer Apple iPhone SE with 4.6-inch Galaxy S7 mini featuring SD-820 or Exynos 8890 SoC?

According to a new rumor out of Taiwan, Samsung is planning on taking on the 4-inch Apple iPhone SE with the Samsung Galaxy S7 mini. Now that doesn't seem terribly shocking since Samsung has produced mini versions of the Samsung Galaxy S from the beginning, only failing to produce a Samsung Galaxy S6 mini (despite images that suggest the manufacturer was working on it). But returning the mini version of Samsung's flagship model to the manufacturer's lineup could be inspired by the interest garnered by the yet-to-be-announced iPhone SE, especially when you consider the rumored specs.

The alleged screen size of the Galaxy S7 mini, 4.6-inches, is larger than the display on the iPhone SE. The latter is scheduled to be unveiled on March 21st during an Apple event. Apple has reportedly taken pains to keep the device as high powered as the iPhone 6s with an A9 chipset, NFC and Apple Pay capabilities, Live Photos (although there will be no 3D Touch), Touch ID and (according to connected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo) a 12MP rear camera.

Samsung appears to be taking a similar path. The aforementioned 4.6-inch display will feature a 720 x 1280 resolution, with the Snapdragon 820 chipset or the Exynos 8890 chipset under the hood. This is where Apple's influence comes in as previous Galaxy S mini models usually contained SoCs that were a few rungs lower than what was being used in the full-sized version of that particular mini model. The Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890 are the chipsets found inside the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 mini is also rumored to contain 3GB of RAM, and come with a 12MP flush mounted rear camera that offers 3X optical zoom. All of this will supposedly fit in a body 9.9mm thick. There is no word on when this device might see the light of day.

source: AppleDaily (translated) via i4U