Flashback: Samsung's Galaxy S minis were small but hardly deserving of the S-branding

08 October 2023
The Galaxy S III mini started an interesting experiment - is there are market for a smaller phone that looks just like the pricey new flagship? We think you know the answer.

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  • Nick.Verium
  • PX0
  • 08 Oct 2023

vrvly, 08 Oct 2023Big screens then are small now. The same could be in the ne... moreYes, because your eyes are not damaged enough just with smartphone screens, you have to add something that causes damage to your vision faster. Then, call it a feature, put an apple in the back and it should sell very well!

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • 7Xd
    • 08 Oct 2023

    My sister had the S3 mini as a gift for her graduation. It was definitely expensive at the time and we didn't realize how underwhelming it was for the price but compared to my mother's very very slow Galaxy S Duos, it's better overall

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      • Modey
      • XxM
      • 08 Oct 2023

      Back when people weren't glued to there phones

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        • Anonymous
        • vaS
        • 08 Oct 2023

        Anonymous, 08 Oct 202313 mini has 430mAh more than Se3. btw, the 21% bigger battery in the 13 mini was also powering a screen with 46% more pixel density compared to SE 3 and despite that, it still got about 23% more endurance rating but like I said, the simple point was that a mini today can last longer than a standard flagship of the past.

          Anonymous, 08 Oct 2023Iphone SE and other are much smaller than phones ppl here f... moreWell people in here also say Sony phones are compact that are over 10mm taller then S23 and Zenfone 10. I would not even say Zenfone 10 to be compact cause it has 0.2 inch smaller screen then S23 while being the same size phone as S23 and standard iphone.

          Fact is that S22/23 are the smallest phones you can get with Android that also have flagship specs. Well there are no middle class hardware small phones from Android brands. Low end to budget have some small phones from unknown brands from China.

          Like Cubot Kingkong mini 3 that is even rugged phone and the same size as iphone 13 mini.

          But that is the low end hardware too with low end cameras and everything.
          So if S23 is the smallest phone in the android market from known brands then what other to call it then compact ? Never mind that the words have lost meaning like with cars there use to be coupe that means 2-3 door car with sport roof that now is also 4-5 door car just cause the roof drop on the rear of the car like coupe. Same is with compact as a word for phones in a world of only big and bigger

            S10e was like a mini S series phone but it was a full flagship, like what the S6 and S7 mini wanted to be

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • vaS
              • 08 Oct 2023

              Anonymous, 08 Oct 202313 mini has 430mAh more than Se3. Yes, it does seem like the newer chipset doesn't cause a significant improvement on battery endurance and the mini might have a bigger battery than the SE 3 but the statement was simply "A mini phone today would have better battery life than most flagships..." and not "A mini phone today would have better battery life PER MAH than most flagships..." So in general, if you compare a phone literally called mini by a manufacturer to previous flagship phones by that same manufacturer, you can see that there is (not absolute but) some truth to that statement.

                Anonymous, 08 Oct 2023XZ1 Compact is far better than both. Except plastic backSpigen cover fixed the hate for plastic feel.

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                  • Anonymous
                  • 0Uh
                  • 08 Oct 2023

                  Anonymous, 08 Oct 2023The best Mini to have ever lived was the Galaxy Alpha. Alpha was a great concept but had the battery capacity like a button phone.

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                    • Anonymous
                    • 0p}
                    • 08 Oct 2023

                    Anonymous, 08 Oct 2023Except the SE 3 was just a repackaged 8 with newer chipset ... more13 mini has 430mAh more than Se3.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • 0p}
                      • 08 Oct 2023

                      Anonymous, 08 Oct 2023Except the SE 3 was just a repackaged 8 with newer chipset ... moreIphone SE and other are much smaller than phones ppl here for stupidity call compact ( s23, zenfone 10) when they are not.

                      Anyway, the much newer SoC of SE3 did not help compared to old chips.


                      8g2 inside Z3 compact, would not making it last 25-30% more

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • vaS
                        • 08 Oct 2023

                        Anonymous, 08 Oct 2023No. Iphone SE3 has similar endurance compared to 6, 6... moreExcept the SE 3 was just a repackaged 8 with newer chipset and not really a proper mini. On this site, if you compare the iPhone 13 mini (75h) to the iPhones 6, 6s, & 7 (61h, 62h, 61h respectively), you'll notice that the statement of the other anonymous commenter does have some merit.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • n54
                          • 08 Oct 2023

                          The best Mini to have ever lived was the Galaxy Alpha.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 0p}
                            • 08 Oct 2023

                            Anonymous, 08 Oct 2023Not everybody needs multiple-day battery endurance. Also, b... moreNo.

                            Iphone SE3 has similar endurance compared to 6, 6s and 7

                              Dave.7, 08 Oct 2023It's funny that the Android system worked so well with... moreLol no, at that time android was known as lagdroid, even flagship use to lag, now phones perform much better even those low end.

                                Hemedans, 08 Oct 2023Funny thing most mini phones from Sony and Asus has excelle... moreI can vouch for that having used the XZ1C from 2018 to 2020. Incredible battery life and power for how cute it was. Sadly I dropped it in water and the SD card tray wasn't closed properly.

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                                  • George USA 299
                                  • Ibx
                                  • 08 Oct 2023

                                  Cpt.Power, 08 Oct 2023Last (mini) device which were good and i remember was Z3 an... moreYeah Samsung mini series were beautiful but Moto E was much better mini budget phone unless you cared about camera and LTE

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                                    • George USA 299
                                    • Ibx
                                    • 08 Oct 2023

                                    Galaxy Ace series too

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                                      • George USA 299
                                      • Ibx
                                      • 08 Oct 2023

                                      Glad they made this article, Galaxy S4 Mini was the sh!t back in the day

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                                        • Shiny Dave
                                        • nxt
                                        • 08 Oct 2023

                                        casualtechs, 08 Oct 2023So the minis have always had this "less than flagship&... moreOne of my friends is looking at replacing her Galaxy A40 right now, and is likely to be going for an S23 - or failing that a Pixel 8, but she's very heat-sensitive so I've warned her about the heat issues of the Tensor chips - because of the lack of compact midrangers now.

                                        It does seem like there's an inevitable march towards bigger phones and hand size be damned, look at how these Galaxy S minis were just using the same screen size as the two-year-old Galaxy S flagships. The backlash seems inevitable. Heck, I've been so on the big phone side of things my first touchscreen phone was the Dell Streak and my second was the OG Galaxy Note, I've even had an Xperia Z Ultra, yet I'm now contemplating the vanilla S23 myself for ease of pocketing. Even the small phones are big enough for me now (I got that Dell Streak because I couldn't handle smaller touchscreens with my coordination issues...)