Samsung announced a smartphone on Thursday called the Galaxy S III Mini that looks like a smaller version of the company’s flagship phone on the outside, but the internals tell quite a different story. The handset mimics Samsung’s best-selling Galaxy S III smartphone but its specifications indicate it’s clearly aimed at budget conscious consumers. Those hoping for flagship performance in a smaller package will likely be disappointed.

I’d argue that Samsung isn’t targeting performance consumers with the S III Mini. Based on the hardware specifications, I suspect the phone isn’t likely to be sold by a major carrier in the US as the configuration reminds me of phones that launched more than a year ago. Here’s an overview of some specs to illustrate the point:

• 4-inch Super AMOLED display with 800 x 480 resolution
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• HSPA support up to 14.4 Mbps (theoretical speeds) and no LTE radio
• 5 megapixel auto…