Rugged Galaxy S4 Active, S4 Mini and 8-inch tablet coming this summer, WSJ says

samsung galaxy s4 compare s3 aa

Galaxy S3 (left) vs Galaxy S4 (right)

 

A new Wall Street Journal report mentions several unconfirmed Samsung products including a rugged Galaxy S4 Active, a Galaxy S4 Mini and a different 8-inch tablet (Samsung already has an 8-inch Galaxy Note 8.0 in stores).

Previous rumors did reveal the existence of said products, but the South Korean Android maker is yet to officially unveil any of them.

Galaxy S4 Active

The Galaxy S4 Active is apparently the rugged version of the Galaxy S4, a handset that was confirmed by a Samsung executive a few days ago. In case that “Active” part sounds familiar, that’s because we’ve heard it before, but at the time we didn’t think it described a rugged Galaxy S4 version.

According to previous reports, the Galaxy S4 is also known as Project J internally, and the Project J family also contains a Project J Active device, supposedly the Galaxy S4 Active the WSJ mentions. At the time we first heard about it, Project J Active was believed to be a smartwatch.

The rugged Galaxy S4′s name is not final though, as the product is only “tentatively called the Galaxy S4 Active.” According to a “person familiar with the matter,” Samsung wants the new phone to “maintain the look and feel of the S4,” while getting waterproof and dust proof powers.

The publication did not reveal any other details about this Galaxy S4 Active, but did say that it could hit stores at some point in July.

Galaxy S4 Mini

The Galaxy S4 Mini has not been mentioned by name, as the WSJ refers to it as “a compact version” of the Galaxy S4 that will sport a 4.3-inch in July, when it’s also apparently set to launch.

Galaxy S4 mini 645px

Purported Galaxy S3 Mini model on the right side of two Galaxy S4 handsets.

 

But we’ve seen plenty of reports detailing the handset well ahead of its launch, and considering that the Galaxy S3 came with its own little brother, it only makes sense to see a Galaxy S4 Mini in stores later this year.

The 8-inch Galaxy (Tab 3?) tablet

Previous reports did reveal that Samsung may be working on another 8-inch tablet, which would hit stores later down the road. Now the WSJ says that the new “Galaxy-line tablet” will be launched in June, not later in summer or early fall as some rumors suggested before.

While the company doesn’t mention the Galaxy Tab 3 product name, it seems logical that this unreleased device would be part of Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab generation. In addition to the 8-inch model, we could also see other Galaxy Tab 3 sizes, although the WSJ doesn’t talk about those either.

Instead, it says that the new 8-inch model would be “adding to the seven-inch and 10.1-inch versions on the market.” Currently, Samsung sells Galaxy Tab 2 models that match that description.

With all that in mind, it looks like Samsung still plans to release a wide variety of products in the coming months, basically flooding stores with new models after new models of smartphones and tablets. This strategy has paid off so far, bringing lots of cash to Samsung’s coffers, and helping it get a more than healthy lead on competitors in the Android ecosystem.

By | 2013-04-27T03:00:06+00:00 April 27th, 2013|Android Related, Just the Tablets|0 Comments

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