It looks like Sprint will be getting a new Galaxy S4 variant in the near future, as the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini just passed through the FCC.
There's a growing trend in the smartphone world where companies are offering their flagship handsets in "mini" form. Most recently, Motorola launched the DROID MINI on Verizon, which brought the design and features of the flagship 5-inch DROID MAXX into a smaller package. HTC has also gotten in on this trend by launching the HTC One Mini, which is currently available from AT&T.
Samsung can take credit for this new trend, as it was the first smartphone company to introduce a miniature version of the Galaxy S3 in November 2012. The company continued this trend when it launched the Galaxy S4 Mini a few months ago. The smartphone hasn't been offered by any U.S. carrier, but it looks like things are about to change, as the Sprint Galaxy S4 Mini has just passed through the FCC. The smartphone is listed by its model number SPH-L520 and includes the necessary bands to run on Sprint's native LTE network.
The Galaxy S4 Mini looks nearly identical to the Galaxy S4 but comes in a smaller and lighter package. The S4 mini features a 4.3-inch 540 x 960 Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 256 pixels per inch (ppi), and runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The handset is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and 1.5GB of RAM to provide a fast and fluid user experience. It has 8GB of internal storage and a microSD expansion slot that will allow users to add up to 64GB microSD cards to increase its storage.
It is packing an 8-megapixel rear camera with autofocus, LED flash, and can record 1080p HD video, and it also has a 1.9-megapixel front facing camera for video chat. Its wireless connectivity options include a 4G LTE radio, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and NFC. Samsung has included a removable 1,900 mAh battery.
There's no word on when we should expect Sprint to officially announce the Galaxy S4 Mini, but since it has gotten FCC approval, it shouldn't be too long of a wait.
