14 DAY TRIAL // Leading mobile phone makers out there have launched “mini” flavors of their flagship devices so as to attract more users towards their brands, but it seems that sales of such handsets have been disappointing.
According to a recent report coming from DigiTimes, handset vendors are expected to rethink their strategy towards these “mini” device models.
Samsung was the first to launch a “mini” flavor of a flagship Android device, yet companies such as HTC, ZTE, and Sony followed suit.
Apparently, sales of such devices have been weak, and Samsung’s Galaxy S4 mini is offered as an example here.
Industry sources are cited saying that the performance of the device is also affected by the release of mid-range smartphones from Samsung and other vendors.
HTC One mini is said to have been affected as well, though HTC One performed quite well in a series of markets around the world.
One thing that Samsung and HTC might have done wrong when launching the Galaxy S4 mini and One mini models was to also downgrade the hardware specs of these models.
Sony, however, made a different move with Xperia Z1 f, which was announced today as a smaller variant of Xperia Z1 in Japan. The company launched it with a smaller screen, but kept the hardware internals of the larger handset.
Sony’s mobile phone will arrive on shelves in Japan before the end of this year, on the network of wireless carrier NTT Docomo.
It will feature a Snapdragon 800 processor inside, 2GB of RAM, and the same 20-megapixel back camera as the Xperia Z1 that went official last month at IFA 2013 in Berlin.
Chances are that Samsung and HTC will also consider the release of more powerful “mini” variants of high-end devices, though it remains to be seen whether / when this will happen.