GoPro “Mini” leaks in a nod to the Session cameras of yesterday

GoPro’s rumored Hero 11 Black may not be the only camera the company releases this year. Leaked images shared by WinFuture indicate that GoPro’s preparing a smaller surprise that seems like a modern iteration of the now-discontinued Session action cams.

The device, supposedly called the Hero 11 Black Mini, tracks with GoPro’s goals of expanding its camera lineup. It features a large camera sensor on the front alongside a single button for Bluetooth connectivity as well as folding “fingers” on the bottom for mounting. As its name implies, the Mini looks like a shrunken-down version of the upcoming Hero 11 Black, only it doesn’t come with any displays on the front or back of the device.

Image: WinFuture

GoPro’s line of Session cameras — the last of which was released in 2016 — notably had no displays and a more compact design, but that’s where the similarities between the Session and the so-called Hero Mini seem to end. While the Mini adopts the design of the Hero 11 Black camera it’s named after, the Session is a tiny cube with a camera that takes up the entire front of the device, and it bared no resemblance to the other Hero devices at the time. GoPro eventually cut the Session from its lineup when it introduced its Hero 7 cameras in 2018.

There aren’t any details about how powerful GoPro plans on making the camera sensor and the other internals on the Mini. While the appearance of the standard GoPro Hero 11 Black will reportedly remain unchanged, it could come with an upgraded sensor that’s capable of shooting 27-megapixel still images and 24.7-megapixel stills taken from videos. It’s also rumored to retain the same 5.3K video shooting capabilities at 60fps (or 4K at 120fps). WinFuture’s expecting a nearly as powerful device in a smaller package for the Mini, but nothing is confirmed as of yet.