FollowAway from the Samsung Galaxy S4 versus HTC One battle that many expect will dominate the smartphone segment this year, there is another battle royale that is brewing and could well be just as exciting as the Samsung and HTC flagship devices are currently engaged in. Both Samsung and HTC are going to launch miniaturized version of their flagship models in the Smartphone sector.
The Galaxy S4 Mini from Samsung to complement their Galaxy S4 device while HTC has their miniaturized version of the HTC One gadget in the form of the HTC M4. The HTC One and Galaxy S4 happen to be the first major products of the year that is expected to pose some stiff competition to the iPhone 5. Both the S4 and One impress with their raw processing ability along with an exhaustive array of features. But then, there are those who do not require a smartphone so powerful and feature laden, which is where the miniaturized version of the phones come into relevance.
However, in spite of them being pitched in a bitter battle against each other over market domination, there is no way one can miss out on the similarities that both enjoy. For instance, none are likely to be accompanied by huge launch event to mark their market entry.
Instead, launch of the miniaturized versions would come into the market rather silently and not preceded by lots of promotional events. This since both HTC and Samsung would be pooling in all their financial resources into pushing their flagship devices. Those who are interested in the miniaturized versions therefore would need to keep a sharp eye on the news channels to catch the gadget as they ticker across the screen.
Other areas where both the S4 Mini and the M4 are likely to follow a similar path include theor launch date, which is expected to be this summer (Jun and July) this year but would surely not coincide with each other. It can also be assumed both the mini version will not be getting similar extensive carrier support as their bigger avatars since these are essentially targeted at a smaller niche market that can be considered a sub-set as that of their bigger cousins.
Coming to the all important price factor, both the phones are likely to cost nearly the same as this goes with the previous practice the two companies have followed with their other devices. It can also be safely and surely assumed that the price would be cheaper than the regular models of the device but not by a huge margin.
The cheaper price tag would naturally mean some of the features of the regular model would not be available on the miniaturized one. HTC M4 may not have the IR port that its big brother has and the hardware sensor which imparts more functionality to the Nature UX application on the S4 may be missing.
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