Rumour Round Up: The S4 Mini, S4 Rugged and now, the S4 Zoom?

Ah, the variety of a giant like Samsung!

As a company with a whole lotta smart devices on its hands, some more weird and wonderful than others, the swirling rumours surrounding just what Samsung will release next are kind of understandable.  Recently, these rumours seem to focus on the company’s new flagship, the Galaxy S4 (which we took a gander at here).

There are the whispers that a rugged version of the S4 will be released shortly, with Gizmodo reporting that reporters at the launch of the S4 in the Gulf region said Samsung Gulf president Young Soo Kim confirmed a rugged version of the S4 in response to questions about the company’s lack of offerings in the water resistant realm.  CNET  reported it would be a waterproof and dust proof version of the S4.

Then there were the rumours about the S4 Mini, which to be fair would follow a pattern, considering the S3 had its own mini version.

The Mini, potentially to be released in mid-July, would come in two versions, including dual SIM, with  a 4.3€³ display, 8MP camera running on Android 4.2.2 and a dual core processor, Sammobile reported.

And now there’s the Zoom.

UnwiredView is reporting that the S4 Zoom has been spotted on the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, with model number  SM-C101 (and of course, featuring Bluetooth 4.0).  The device would reportedly resemble the Mini but feature a 16MP rear camera, with optical zoom.

TechCrunch reported optical zoom was the main differentiator between smartphone cameras and traditional point and click, which  many manufacturers were working to overcome. The phone would feature 10x zoom, the strongest available, TechCrunch said.

UnwiredView said the device could be released in early June in black and white.