Samsung may be about to introduce a Galaxy S7 Mini, as it has with older flagships, but things are different this time, oh yes...

You see, historically Samsung has been one of several manufacturers to offer "Mini" variants of its flagship phones but, like many of its peers, has usually done a bad job by not only shrinking the phone, but skimping on the spec line-up too. That means slower processors, less RAM, less storage space, inferior display panels and battery cells, and a stripped-down feature set. To be honest only Sony has bothered to attempt to keep its mini devices, the Xperia Z "Compact" series, with a spec sheet as close to the flagship it is derived from as possible.

Until now.

According to the rumour mill (oddly enough, sources speaking to Taiwanese site Apple Daily) Samsung's Galaxy S7 Mini will be packed with the same processor options as the full-size Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, which means either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 or a Samsung Exynos 8890, depending on what part of the globe you reside in. In the past, Asia has had the Exynos kit, while everyone else got Snapdragon hardware, but that's been flipped on its head this year for the main flagship, presumably because the Snapdragon appears to outperform the Exynos, and Asia is, after all, Samsung's home market...gotta have the best!

What's more, the Galaxy S7 Mini appears to be a genuine "mini" device and the size suggests it is indeed intended to take the iPhone 5se head-on - previous Galaxy Mini devices have expanded their display size in-line with the ever-enlarging flagship, but the Galaxy S7 Mini display is rumoured at 4.6in. That's almost the size of the regular iPhone, and noticably bigger than the 4in iPhone 5se, but still, a good deal smaller than the 5.1in and 5.5in Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

There will be some reductions in the spec, however, with the Galaxy S7 Mini display having a 720p resolution, still, HD quality and at this size screen it should be plenty sharp enough. RAM is rumoured at 3GB, while the rear camera is said to be 12MP sensor with 3x optical zoom; it also allegedly fits flush to the bodywork. Speaking of which, the only measurement we have is a 9.9mm thickness for the chassis.

There's no word on a release date at all at the moment, but given that this is allegedly intended to face down the iPhone 5se launching on March 21 we can't imagine Samsung is going to dawdle. Expect to hear more fairly soon.