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NFC-enabled Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini coming this month

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Samsung will be launching NFC-equipped versions of its Galaxy SIII Mini later this month, pushing the idea of contactless payment systems even further with an affordable yet slick Android phone.

When Samsung revealed the S3 Mini last year we were a little disappointed with the lack of NFC; a wireless connectivity was becoming increasingly popular, even in budget smartphones. The lack of an NFC chip meant that cool features such as S Beam were not possible on the miniature version.

However, it looks as though Samsung is going to answer our prayers by launching a new model that’s compatible with S Beam, Android Beam and more. With the new version users will be able to touch their phone to other NFC devices and share photos, videos, songs and webpages in an instant, wirelessly.

“NFC technology and the digital wallet started to gain significant traction in 2012, particularly in the run up to the Olympics,” said Simon Stanford of Samsung. “It’s an exciting time in the mobile market watching the next phase of its evolution take shape, so we’re happy to announce that we are bringing these new experiences to our customers through our growing number of NFC-enabled devices.”

Although it’s not been confirmed just yet, we expect the new model to be picked up by Orange, who has recently been pushing a series of NFC-capable phones with exclusive wireless payment deals across the UK. Orange customers have benefitted from freebies and special offers for using their phones to pay, and it seems to be proving popular.

Asides from the addition of NFC, the new versions of the S3 Mini will be exactly the same as the original. This means you’ll get the same 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, 8 or 16GB of internal storage and a dual-core 1GHz processor.

The NFC-equipped Galaxy SIII Mini will come to the UK at the end of January.