Samsung's new Galaxy Zooming into Australia later this year

Samsung has confirmed the Galaxy S4 Zoom will launch Down Under later this year

Ross Catanzariti (Good Gear Guide) on 21 June, 2013 12:10

Samsung has confirmed that its new Galaxy S4 Zoom, an Android smartphone with a 16-megapixel camera, optical zoom, and a xenon flash, will be released in Australia "later this year".

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Officially announced earlier this month, the Galaxy S4 Zoom is best described as a version of the Galaxy S4 mini with a 10x optical zoom on the back.

The Galaxy S4 Zoom has a 16-megapixel CMOS image sensor, uses optical image stabilisation, and comes with a xenon flash rather than the standard LED flash used on most smartphone cameras.

Samsung Australia confirmed to GoodGearGuide that it plans to release the Galaxy S4 Zoom Down Under "later this year", though it refused to comment on specific pricing or availability details.

"Following the global announcement of the GALAXY S4 zoom, Samsung Electronics Australia can confirm that this new smartphone will be coming to Australia later this year.
We will share more information around local pricing and availability of this latest addition to the GALAXY GS4 range soon."

Aside from its unique camera capabilities, the Galaxy S4 Zoom has a 4.3in qHD display with a resolution of 960x540, is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, has 1.5GB RAM and comes with 8GB of internal storage.

The storage is expandable thanks to the addition of a microSD slot, while there's also a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera.

The announcement of the Galaxy S4 Zoom comes just days before Nokia is expected to unveil a 41-megapixel "PureView" Windows Phone, codenamed "EOS".

The Galaxy S4 Zoom is the third phone Samsung has unveiled in a matter of weeks, following the news that the Galaxy S4 Active and the Galaxy S4 mini will also be launching in Australia later this year.

Are you interested in the new Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom? What do you think about the concept of morphing a smartphone and a digital camera? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.