Recently, Samsung announced the rebranding of its dual-core Galaxy Premier to Galaxy Pop, which reports said the South Korean company will sell exclusively to its homebase.

The revamp carried over most of the Premier's hardware specs save for one major alteration. The Galaxy Pop will be powered by the same quad-core CPU that Samsung had deployed with its top-selling Galaxy S3 - the Exynos 4412 that clocks at maximum speed of 1.4GHz.

Despite its generous capacity, Samsung is aiming the Galaxy Pop for Korea's younger generation - the same market that the S3 Mini is geared for.

Equally capable as they are, pitting the two Samsung handsets makes for an appealing spectacle.

Hardware duel

As mentioned above, the Galaxy Pop packs the sufficient power that will fit with its young owner's active lifestyle. Numerous tasking should not be a problem with the Pop's tandem of powerful processor and a dedicated GPU on Mali-400MP plus a 1GB of RAM.

The handset is 720p with pixel density of 316ppi, all the more enhancing it Super AMOLED display rendering on a 4.6-inch screen, acting too as the clear viewer for its 8MP rear-camera shooter. The same camera is able to capture 1080p video clips. For the front cam, Samsung provided a decent 1.9MP sensor.

Set for debut this month, the Galaxy Pop will offer maximum of 16GB internal storage plus up to 32GB of microSD expansion. Samsung is very much aware that young smartphone users require as much space as possible, thus the provision.

Truly, the Galaxy Pop is a multi-function device that Samsung expects young buyers would scoop up in large numbers. The same is true with the Galaxy S3 Mini, which Samsung touted as the scaled down version of the Galaxy S3. The specs of this 4.0-inch mobile phone have been bumped down, obviously to give it a lower price.

And when compared to the Galaxy Pop, it is inevitable that the shortcomings of the S3 Mini are highlighted.

The camera is at the lower end: 5MP sensor at the main and VGA at the secondary. The primary shooter though is capable of recording 720p video clips.

Processing power of the S3 Mini is only at 1GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 but the device shares the same GPU with the Galaxy Pop. In real-world benchmark, the two mobile phones will perform almost in the same level though undoubtedly the latter will be snappier and more responsive during crunch moments.

More operating hours can also be juiced from the Galaxy Pop's Li-Ion 2100mAh battery, which will slug it out with the S3 Mini's Li-Ion 1500mAh battery.

Platform battle

No contest here as both handsets will flex JellyBean 4.1 but with the hardware advantages of the Galaxy Pop it is expected that the newer phone will work more smoothly with Android, on top of which users will also interact with TouchWiz.

Look factor and pricing

GSM Arena listed the Galaxy S3 Mini at 111.5 grams while the Galaxy Pop weighs at 135 grams. The former is the lighter phone but at first glance the two handsets exude the same appeal first seen with the Galaxy S3.

According to Samsung, the Galaxy Pop will initially retail in white casing only but it is not far off that new colours will be added in the months after its market debut. The Galaxy S3 Mini was first introduced with only two colour options. Now six variants are currently available.

The last published price for the unlocked S3 Mini in Asia-Pacific region ranges from $400 to $600 depending on country of distribution. Samsung has yet to provide specific pricing for the Galaxy Pop though the level could hover in the same level as that of the S3 Mini.