What’s thought to be the first official image of the rumoured Nokia N97 Mini has appeared online.

Nokia hasn't admitted the N97 Mini's existence

Images of the N97 Mini lying beside the original N97 cropped up online last month, but this latest image shows the miniaturised handset bathed in light-brown splendour. The matching brown background is also reminiscent of official publication shots.

The latest image doesn’t, sadly, reveal anything new about the N97 Mini. However, you can see that the new model sports fewer buttons than the its predecessor.

Last month’s images did reveal that the N97 doesn’t include the original model’s sliding lens cap.

According to a Vodafone employee who recently blabbed on a company forum, the network operator “will be launching the N97 Mini later this year”. ®