Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini: smartphone market

The mid-range smartphone market is a domain not often traversed by technology publications. We’re well aware that Nokia continues to produce cheap and cheerful phones that cater to the mass market, but here at ExtremeTech — or at Engadget or The Verge — the majority of column inches are dedicated to flagship superphones, such as the Galaxy S3 or iPhone 5. For the most part, this is because our readership is incredibly tech savvy — you’re the kind of people who will go out and buy the best that technology has to offer, and so that’s what we write about.
Sometimes, though, it’s good to broaden your horizons — to take a look at the wider market, to examine the broader trends. When you’re sitting at the top, blinded by your 4.8-inch Super Ultra ClearBlack OLED+³ display, it’s very easy to lose track of reality.
Which leads us neatly onto the scorn received by Samsung’s recently unveiled Galaxy S3 Mini. The S3 Mini is a perfect scale model of the S3, which Samsung released in June. Instead of a 4.8-inch screen, the S3 Mini has a 4-incher. Instead of a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 or 1.4GHz Tegra 3, the Mini is equipped with a 1GHz ST-Ericsson 8-series NovaThor SoC. Otherwise, except for a slightly smaller camera on the back (8MP vs. 5MP), the Galaxy S3 Mini is virtually identical to its full-size sibling. Perhaps more important than any hardware spec, the Galaxy S3 Mini even runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Galaxy S3 Mini (left) vs. full-size Galaxy S3 (right), size comparison

The component that most tech commentators seem to be upset by is the 4-inch screen, which is still Super AMOLED — but the resolution has dropped down from 1280×720 (306 PPI) to 800×480 (233 PPI). Objectively, this isn’t quite “Retina” quality, but it’s still very good.
Pundits have also been attacking the 1GHz dual-core processor — but if they took a moment to actually check some benchmarks from other phones that use ST-Ericsson’s NovaThor SoCs, they would see that its performance is actually rather good. We’re not talking about Exynos 5 or Snapdragon S4 performance, but it’s comparable to current-generation, Cortex-A9 designs such as Tegra 3 or OMAP4. The 8-series NovaThor SoCs are used in the Sony Xperia P/U/Sola/Go, Samsung Galaxy Beam/Ace 2, all of which have been well received and benchmark well on a range of tests.
Yes, the S3 Mini doesn’t have bleeding-edge specs — but it doesn’t need to. Android itself isn’t specifically tailored towards high-end devices, and neither are third-party apps. The real-world performance difference between the Galaxy S3 and the S3 Mini will be negligible, except perhaps for edge cases such as very heavy websites. In some cases, with the lower-resolution screen but comparable GPU, the S3 Mini might actually manage higher frame rates than its bigger brother. In 99% of cases, a mid-range PC serves a user just fine — and smartphones are no different.

Filling out

The Galaxy S3 Mini is undoubtedly an attempt to cash in on those who see the Galaxy S3 as too large or too expensive. The Galaxy S3 is one of the largest phones on the market, and there are plenty of people out there who would prefer a smaller bulge in their pocket, or a phone that can more easily be used with a single hand. While the Galaxy S3 costs around $600/£400 off-contract, the S3 Mini is expected to cost around $400/£250, right in the mid-range sweet spot.
In the mid-range market, the S3 Mini will have to compete with the likes of the HTC One S , LG Lucid, Sony Xperia P, and a hoard of other Samsung phones — but by riding the coattails of Samsung’s very popular S3 brand, it should have a significant advantage. You can just see it now: Your mom asks the sales rep about the S3, asks if they have anything cheaper/lighter/smaller, and walks away with an S3 Mini.
There is a risk of brand dilution, but I don’t think Samsung really cares. We are talking about the company who has strapped the “Galaxy” moniker on no less than 45 smartphones since 2009, and more than a dozen tablets/phablets/peripherals. Galaxy means a different thing to different people: To high-end users like us, it’s a performance marque — to low- and mid-range mom and pop consumers, it’s just a brand of attractive phones.
But getting back to the point: Yes, the Galaxy S3 Mini has lower specs than the full-bodied S3, but to the average consumer that doesn’t matter. The screen will still look beautiful in a showroom setting, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean will make the phone feel slicker than almost anything else on offer. It’s also worth pointing out that the Galaxy S3 Mini will be roughly the same size and price as the iPhone 4S — and it wouldn’t surprise me if Samsung has seen how many last-generation iPhones Apple continues to sell, and has decided it wants a piece of that pie.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow as an early adopting power user, but the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5 superphones won’t rule the market for much longer. Smartphones are still a relatively new and exciting thing, but they are already beginning the slow march towards commoditization. There will always be a market for those who want the latest and greatest and most expensive smartphone — just like with cars or TVs or clothes — but ultimately, just like in every other industry, the bulk of the industry will eventually be ruled by low- and mid-range products. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Galaxy S3 Mini goes on to become one of the most popular phones ever made.