[citation][nom]Vladislaus[/nom]Of course it was intentionally released to compete with the iPhone 5? That's why Samsung ads that make fun of Apple always use a Samsung phone that's the same size of the iPhone.This phone was made to toke the advantage of the fame that the Galaxy S line has.The retail price of the S3 mini is still quite a bit cheaper than the iPhone 5. It's not a cheap phone by any means. I think that the price Samsung is asking is short of robbery. Specially considering that the Nexus 4 is going to be cheaper and far better.[/citation]
It is a bit cheaper, what $120-$150 USD cheaper for outright purchase for the 16GB model, that's what over 3 years $0.70- $0.97 a week over 3 years difference? And the contract price is is less of a difference.
And how much do you think Samsung would have charged for the S3 mini if it had 300+ ppi screen not their 223 ppi, a similar camera to the iPhone 5's, and LTE? That would make up the 120-150 difference, so basically they could not put together a 4" phone with the same specs as the iPhone 5 at a price below enough to attract customers. Also note that the S3 mini is 112g and the iPhone 5 is 118g, if you added those increased specs the increased battery to run the additional features would have made the s3 mini have a higher weight than the iPhone 5.
In order to get a product that is $120-$150 cheaper they basically skimmed off a whole lot of features.
My boss who owns a software consulting company was also waiting for the S3 mini, once the specs were announced to say he was unimpressed would be an understatement.
My wife who is far from a technical person even can tell this is a crappy product and not worth the price they're asking as you mentioned.
And honestly to her spending $0.70 - $0.97 or if she gets it on contract an extra $0.50 - $0.75 a week for an iPhone 5 on something she uses everyday is money well worth it.
People piss away a buck, or two, or more weekly on unnecessary spending, not getting a good deal, etc, using that on something that is as critical as your phone has high marginal utility for quite a few people, thus it makes sense.