Totally agree with you 100%. I have bought nearly every model of iPhone ever since the 5 came out (and only skipped a few, for deliberate reasons which I'll explain later), but even after all these years the 4 inch models still remain my favorite mainstays for exactly this reason, and is always the one I bring with me wherever I go. (Would never go back to the original 2012 iPhone 5 though, as TouchID really is a feature that I can no longer live without) but the 5S and the SE are both models which I still consider to have the most of everything I want, does nearly everything that all the others do, and I still deeply prefer using them to the the larger models I have.
Yes, I do miss 3D Touch at times too (so I completely know what you mean by this), but not having it isn't as much of a dealbreaker for me in the way that not having TouchID would have been. 3D Touch just isn't big enough a feature to warrant having to lug around a larger device for everyday use. So the trade-off just wasn't worth me ever wanting a 6 or 6S (which are the only models I ever skipped). Don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely LOVE to have an iPhone SE with 3D Touch capability though! (that would actually make me REALLY happy!) So for the record, I'd happily rush out and buy one of those if one day it existed.
(Being as that one is probably in the realms of physically possible to create, you never know, it may even happen if they see there is enough interest) -So it never hurts to talk about it, just to put that idea out there.
Out of the bigger iPhones I'd say that my 6S Plus is the last of the decent big iPhones, but I only use that for watching movies at home. (I do like the big screen for that, just it's too big for comfortable carrying around, so home is where it stays, and could never serve as a replacement for the 4 inch models that I can and do still bring everywhere), so the reality is that I just won't bother upgrading the bigger sizes on each launch.
If the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus has taught me anything, it's that the more recent new feature upgrades just really aren't worth the trade-off of losing the important factors that make the iPhone so great. I'm not knocking the new features (as some of them are kinda nice), just they're only worth doing if they can be done in such a way that important aspects of the device are not lost in order to do so. (I do like 3D Touch though, just it's no way near important enough for me to have to lose a universal headphone jack, or to make the device less carryable, which are both two of its biggest dealbreakers for me.
I gave them the benefit of the doubt this year with the iPhone 7 Pus (just to see if I'd feel different after time), but I already regret it. I can happily live without it being barely (or even fully) waterproof, plus even the dual speakers didn't really feel more useful in my real world experience. So I now know with 100% certainty that while I will stay in the Apple ecosystem for life (because I simply just prefer it to android in every way), I will only bother upgrading to future models that are either the 4 inch size (or are as pants-pocket carryable as that model is). The headphone jack, while I wish they'd bring it back too, something tells me I'm going to have to live with that annoyability at some point in the future, when my 5S and SE no longer work and I have no other choice. But the point here though is, if the carryability and headphone jack come back as future mainstay model choices, I would happily keep purchasing them as annual iPhone upgrades each year (even before my old ones die, like I used to), so even though not everybody feels this way, the amount of people who clearly do means there is a whole tonne of untapped easy profitability for Apple here, without much effort. (Apple, if you're listening, I'm far from the only customer who strongly feels this way). -Please make it happen!
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