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I was on an SE1 forever (only left it because of no iOS16 support) and now a 13 Mini.
I enjoy the 13 Mini, but don't love it like I loved the 4" size phones.

If they ever nuked the size class of the Mini and no longer kept up latest iOS support of it (like happened to my SE1), I'd literally be looking elsewhere. I don't know where or for what (the options are always changing), but I will **not** be migrating up to something even bigger just to stay on an iPhone. No way, no how.
now that we got my kid an iPhone 13 mini, I get the hand me down iPhone 7 which is a huge upgrade over the iPhone 6.

Personally, I liked the 5s form factor the most.
 
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According to Ross Young, "total iPhone 14 panel orders this year are slightly higher than the iPhone 13 at the same time last year"...meanwhile, orders for the iPhone 14 panels are down 38% compared to the iPhone 13 at this point last year." This means they're currently selling slightly more iPhone 14's than 13's, but that the non-Pro models have become relatively less popular. [https://9to5mac.com/2022/09/30/iphone-14-production-3/]

Thus MR's headline could instead have read:

"Total iPhone 14 sales up slightly relative to last year, but margins up significantly because consumers are shifting to Pro models".
 
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I think this all went wrong from the 5S days. Shoulda stuck to their 'last years model $100 less' approach. The SE seemed like a good idea / allowed them into all sorts of markets but even that now doesn't seem as much interest to people as in 2016.

I'm not a big fan of the non-Pro and Pro lines. Why can't Apple focus on one single amazing release of the iPhone each year? Imagine how much even more focussed the hardware and software is. Or at least, if they stick to what they're doing now, some down-to-earth pricing like:

£500 iPhone 13
£600 iPhone 14
£700 iPhone 14 Plus
£800 iPhone 14 Pro
£900 iPhone 14 Pro Max

I was looking back on Archive's wayback machine, crazy how at the time I thought £350 from iPhone 3G to like close to £500 was an astronomical increase then. Now I'm using a £1,250 iPhone 13 Pro Max...
 
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Apple is slowly coming to the realization that:
  • Some people like top-of-the-line Pro phones
  • Some people like cheap phones
A low-end big phone is neither of these.
Make a top-of-the-line Pro phone in a smaller form factor, and I'll be there in a heartbeat.
Anecdotal evidence talking to stores seems to be the cheapest and most expensive models of most Apple products sell better so this bears out.
 
Whole Apple line up too complex.

Should be easier to find what you need.

iPhone
iPhone Pro
iPhone Pro Max

MacBook (which is the current Air)
MacBook Pro 14
MacBook Pro 16

Mac (replaces Mac mini but in a keyboard form factor like Apple II)
iMac
Mac Studio
Mac Pro

iPad (which is the current iPad Air)
iPad mini
iPad Pro 11
iPad Pro 12

Done.

I go full Gorden Ramsey on the menu.

I got rid of the iPhone Plus and I renamed the two Air products, got rid of MacBook Pro 13, and got rid of the out of date tapered iPad design. I get rid of all this SE models.
I posted almost exact same thing last week, lol.

Replace Pro Max with Ultra, rename the Mac Studio to Mac Pro, and the current Mac Pro becomes the Mac Ultra. The 12.9 inch iPad Pro becomes an iPad Ultra. Then you can standardize the suffixes too. (That would also leave room for an 18 inch MacBook Ultra even, one can dream!)
 
The elephant in the room we all keep forgetting too is market saturation.

- Android - dominant mobile operating system with over 3 billion
- iOS - 1.2 billion

The reality is, most on Android are sticking with the platform or choosing it because its a cheaper, better ecosystem for them. On the Apple side, most are simply keeping the devices much longer; if you live in some cities, you will see many users with the newer model. But I wouldn't be surprised if most of these are from trade ins. But outside of that, I still see a vast majority with what appear to be iPhone 11's and iPhone 12's.

I noticed on the public transportation I take, I normally see elderly folks with either iPhone XS, 11 and standard 12. Working adults I will see with iPhone 12 Pro Maxes and standard 12's. A lot of women tend to have the standard 6.1 iPhone 13. The mini tends to be a range of demographics: some older men, some younger men that give a sense of I just want a smartphone for the basics - basically the "I don't live on my phone crowd".

What these observations tell me though is that people will just keep their devices as long as they can and upgrade when they feel like they really need to. I personally have been carrying this logic with my iPhone X; I just don't feel motivated to upgrade even though I could easily outright buy a new iPhone Pro Max every year. I just haven't find anything essential since 2017 that has given me enough of a reason to do so.

Other elephants in the room:

The world economy, that $1,000 on a new iPhone could be used for expenses over several months: groceries, paying bills, replace a broken lightbulb or something, water, sewage, gas. Reading Elon Musk tweets, or a news story on Facebook or taking a high resolution 48 Megapixel photo of your dog, cat or tree in your neighborhood is not life changing.

Ultimately, none of this is bad for Apple and what means is, they are likely gonna get repeat upgraders, but those are gonna be over time. Its good news because those iPhone XS, 12, 13 users will likely become iPhone 15, 16, 17 upgrades and cycle repeats itself.
 
Can't say I'm at all surprised by this.

They put the 12 mini in the 11's price point and then moved up the 12 to be more expensive than the 11. Then, with that same pricing in place, they culled the mini, left the 14 in the same price point as the 13 and the 12 while introducing a 14 Plus that flirts with the 14 Pro's price point without giving it anything to make it stand apart from the 14 other than a bigger screen size and bigger battery (every other "Plus" phone at least had some camera improvement that the non-Plus one didn't have). And they're surprised when people don't want to buy it?

They might need Phil Schiller back in Marketing.
 
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It was extremely dumb of Apple to get rid of the mini from the line-up and replace it with a giant phablet no one wants.
I agree with you on the first part of your comment. However, I think the Plus model would have been a better option had it not been so expensive. Paying more for the same (as the non-pro model) isn’t a good deal. I personally would have bought one had it not been for that
 
I remember when I finally upgraded to the 12 Pro Max, it really "felt" like an upgrade over the 7 Plus. I didn't recognize the upgrade when I saw and held the iPhone 8, X, 11, XR, etc. after they launched. I looked them in the store and kept thinking, "Nah, I'll wait." --I feel that way with the 14; it's more a revision than an actual upgrade to me.

Sure, if I needed a new iPhone right now, I'd buy it no problem; however, my 12 works beautifully so I see no need to "upgrade" to the current year model.
 
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