ASUS is expected to officially announce its PadFone Mini this week, introducing a 4.3-inch smartphone that fits into a 7-inch tablet. New press images of the device have leaked.

When you're a player in the smartphone and tablet market you need to try and make your device stand out from the competition, especially in the Android world. Unlike Samsung's phablet strategy of shipping a converged device, ASUS has taken a novel approach in differentiating its PadFone series by creating two separate devices, a smartphone and a tablet dock. The smartphone can be inserted into the tablet dock, which uses the smartphone as the brains and brawn of the operation.

ASUS is looking to capitalize on the popularity of 7-inch tablets and is expected to announce the PadFone Mini at a press event on Dec. 11. The always-reliable tipster evleaks has posted press images of ASUS' PadFone Mini showing off the 4.3-inch smartphone and 7-inch tablet dock.

The PadFone Mini is expected to ship with a 4.3-inch display with a resolution of 960 x 540 and will reportedly use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor. The Mini tablet dock will reportedly use a 7-inch display, although there's no word on what resolution we can expect ASUS to deliver.

The company uses an exclusive technology called DynamicDisplay, which automatically adjusts the PadFone's display layout when it is inserted into the tablet dock. The DynamicDisplay technology is also able to remember an app's state when moving from the PadFone to tablet dock and vice versa, so you won't need to start over if playing a game for instance. The tablet dock also has its own built-in battery, which allows users to get extended talk time out of the smartphone without wasting its battery while it's in tablet mode.

There have been no leaks regarding the PadFone Mini's pricing, release date, or carrier partners, so we'll have to wait to see what ASUS officially announces at its Dec. 11 event. We'll be sure to bring you all the official details when ASUS formally announces the PadFone Mini.