Samsung Introduces Massive Camera Phone Ahead of June 20 Event

While Samsung is expected to unveil the so-called Galaxy S4 Mini on Thursday, June 20 (along with a

of the Galaxy Camera), the company has jumped the gun this week by unveiling one of its new products a little early.

Featuring a 16 megapixel camera and a 10x zoom lens, the Galaxy S4 Zoom is not really a standard Galaxy S4 with a special camera attached. This phone will be smaller (it contains a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display) and contain a slightly weaker 1.5GHz dual-core processor. Thus, it could be easier to stuff in a pocket (since it is not as long as the Galaxy S4), but the added thickness and additional weight could also be a nuisance. Regardless, it would be hard for anyone to not be impressed by the concept Samsung has produced. While other manufacturers have attempted to combine the best of both worlds -- smartphones and high-end digital cameras -- few have been able to pull it off.

, for example, gave up on the dream of applying a giant lens to a smartphone and spent five years developing

. This led to the creation of the PureView, an

to the traditional zoom lens. Nokia's camera technology is the only one in the world that uses 41 megapixels to allow consumers to zoom three times without losing a hint of image quality. According to

, Samsung will release the Galaxy S4 Zoom domestically in the fourth quarter. By then, Nokia will likely be ready to launch another batch of Lumia devices -- many of which are likely to contain some (or all) of the PureView camera technology.