Apparatus, and an associated method, for reducing the resolution of a digital image, such as a JPEG image. The digital image is pre-scaled by a pre-scaling factor that is selected such that a matrix multiplication is performed upon the digital image once pre-scaled, to reduce the resolution of the image. The matrix multiplication utilizes a multiplier that exhibits symmetry, thereby to reduce the number of calculations required to reduce the resolution of the image. Resolution reduction is performed, for instance, prior to communicating the digital image to a mobile station operable in a mobile communication system.