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iPhone 12 Mini Sales Lackluster Compared to Other Models

None off this data is surprising: 12 > Pro > Max > Mini. The 12 here is the real winner - quite the device!
I know of one friend who purchased the mini. Was just messaging with him over the weekend and it came up. He LOVES his. Said the smaller keyboard took some adjustment, but noted auto-correct and speech-to-text helped flattened the curve. He's since adjusted. Seems this is one of those classic cases where if you wanted one, you purchased one. And if you purchased one... In most cases, we tend to support your purchase decisions. ;)
While I do find the mini format interesting (ooh smaller), and for opposite reasons the Max interesting (ooh bigger), for me, the Pro's size + features are pretty spot on. In the end, I'm not sure I care to go smaller and anything larger requires an entire reimagining of pocket design, as I'm not one to walk around carrying my device in-hand. Prefer keeping it tucked away as much as possible - which is hands down the best feature of Apple Watch.
 
Yebubbleman said:
It might've helped if Apple, instead of charging for the iPhone 12 mini what they previously charged for the standard iPhone 11, charged $100 less and then slotted the standard non-Pro iPhone 12 in the aforementioned price point held by the standard iPhone 11 last year. I get that they need to compensate for the fact that people just don't upgrade their phones often, but they also need to not make that a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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Except that the 12 series uses OLED displays, and the iPhone 11 had an LCD display. The mini battery life would almost certainly be significantly worse if it was using an LCD. Unfortunately, upgrading the entire line to OLED means they all cost more to make, which is part of the justification for the price hike.
 
midkay said:
I knew it! It used to be so fashionable to go around tirelessly complaining that Apple needs to make smaller phones, but this proves it — nobody actually wants that.
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That’s absolutely not true. When I heard this announced i was stoked until I found out how huge this thing is. Make it half the size and give it double the battery life and i will pay you $3,500 for it and one for every person in my household.
 
I, and a buddy of mine, are both in the target group to buy iPhone 12 Minis, as we have kept our OG iPhone SEs all these years. Here's why neither of us have one yet:

1. My buddy's wife preordered what she thought was a 12 Mini, not realizing that preorders weren't open for the 12 Mini at the time, meaning she actually preordered him a regular 12. He's been using that regular 12, and while he hates the size, he's also too lazy to return it.

2. I'm waiting for an actual good deal to appear for the 12 Mini on Verizon that doesn't involve BOGO or opening a new line. Best I've seen thus far is "$200" off at Walmart, but I put "$200" in quotes because they raise the MSRP $80 above everyone else first, so it's really only $120 off. Once I can actually buy a 12 Mini for $500 or less, I'll get one. While price isn't a huge factor for me, I hate paying full price for anything, and my SE is still going strong with a replaced battery, so I have all the time in the world to wait.
 
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So, during Oct/Nov 2020, the 12 Mini (released on 6 Nov) sold less than phones that have been available for the entire two months (bar the Max).
Shouldn’t we perhaps try to compare apples with apples?
What am I missing that makes this a worthwhile piece of news?
 
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Treq said:
Everyone I know loves theirs. It's the perfect form factor. The pro is too big. But the battery life is what's really killing sales.
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I have a mini and usually finish the day with around 30-40% left without any charging at all. It's the 9th iPhone I've had, and it has the best battery life of any of them, by far. Just because it's less than the bigger models doesn't mean it's bad or insufficient for most users.

Overall, these are disappointing numbers, and I'm surprised. Maybe small phone buyers are seeing more value in the SE (which, to be fair, does offer great value). I just don't get the big phone thing. You couldn't pay me to use a phone the size of the pro max.

Wando64 said:
So, during Oct/Nov 2020, the 12 Mini (released on 6 Nov) sold less than phones that have been available for the entire two months (bar the Max).
Shouldn’t we perhaps try to compare apples with apples?
What am I missing that makes this a worthwhile piece of news?
Click to expand...
Yeah I thought the same thing, but the PM way outsold the mini despite coming out the same day.
 
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I said I would only replace my XR if it died or Apple came out with an iPhone the size of the old 4.8” model but was all screen. Well, Apple did just that, and I traded my XR in shortly after. It helped that T-Mobile threw in a discount, along with another $150 in money back, which made the final cost $330.

I love the smaller size, and it’s not even summer time when I will really notice a big phone in a shorts pocket. I like being back to not noticing the phone in my pocket.

Battery life isn’t as good as the XR, but it’s not as bad as reviewers say. iPhones do a lot of background tasks the first few days you have them, and once all that is done, the mini does pretty well. Granted, I don’t spend all day on my phone.
 
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JPack said:
Non-tech geeks are buying the iPhone XR and iPhone 11, not the iPhone 12 mini.

When the XR and 11 are discontinued, those consumers will choose something in the middle of the price pack. And something that everyone else carries. That's the 6.1" model.
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Fair enough, but I think this sales data is only showing a couple of weeks for the mini, so we'll have to see how it pans out over time... and I'm definitely not arguing it's going to be Apple's top seller or even #2, but I suspect it'll do well enough in the long run. Wouldn't be surprised if they just kept it around as is and dropped the price a bit in a year instead of coming out with a 12s or 13 mini or whatever... not that I want that, I want a mini Pro, but yeah physics and niche demand and all that, a fantasy, I know.
 
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Wando64 said:
So, during Oct/Nov 2020, the 12 Mini (released on 6 Nov) sold less than phones that have been available for the entire two months (bar the Max).
Shouldn’t we perhaps try to compare apples with apples?
What am I missing that makes this a worthwhile piece of news?
Click to expand...

  1. iPhone 12 and 12 Pro delivery dates slipped within 24 hours of Apple accepting orders.
  2. iPhone 12 mini delivery dates have never slipped.
  3. iPhone 12 Pro Max sales is about 400% higher.
 
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midkay said:
Well, despite the slightly shorter battery life, your friends still bought them. Clearly, people who do want this size will buy them. Still, only 6% did. 94% of people didn’t. That’s the point here.
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Actually, for them the battery life was less of an issue because they were coming from older phones with worse battery life. So it was still a battery upgrade for them. I think it's mostly the battery, and to some extent, the fact that is doesn't include some of the pro features. It's not that people don't want a smaller phone, it's that they want their cake and eat it too.
 
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I went from an iPhone SE 2020 to an iPhone Pro Max due to battery life. I actually dislike how big and heavy the Pro Max is but the outstanding battery life is worth the trade off to me. If the mini had the same battery life I would get the smaller phone. Last year I was traveling across the state every weekday for about 5 months and the smaller iPhones battery life was just miserable for me. I had to have it plugged in most of the day.
 
MisterAndrew said:
I'm surprised the SE sales figures aren't higher. Best deal in a new smartphone. I'm also surprised the 12 Pro Max sales figures are so high. So many people struggling through the pandemic yet they're willing to spend almost as much as a used car for a telephone.
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Most people are on a payment plan so $1k doesn’t really feel like $1k. Also my wife got a trade in for her xs max so she pays about $12 a month.
 
I have always been a fan of smaller phones, and I really do love my mini. It is 95% the phone I had hoped for, but battery life is pretty poor. Obviously that isn't unique to the mini, that is the nature of battery technology, and until that improves you really have to go up in size to get that all day heavy usage. With that said, it charges very fast and even a 20 minute commute using a wireless charger juices my phone up enough to get me through a day no problem.
 
Trager said:
12 Mini adoption always was going to be a bit of a slow burn, between the late introduction and the new place in the lineup. Sure, it would be an easier sell if it was $100 less, but there are a lot of people who want a pocket-sized phone with advanced features. I got my gf one for Xmas, and pretty much all of her friends want one now (they didn’t even know that such a thing existed before seeing hers).
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This. Same with my wife, she’s got an 11 which she finds clumsy. She had no idea about the Mini until I told her about it. She’ll be getting one when the XR 11 is spent.

Most people really don’t follow every big yearly meet-up at the Church of Apple like us nerds. They simply don’t know and/or care until they need a new phone.
 
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This is kind of a rorschach test for whatever you want to believe about the mini. This doesn't say that it's a failure. Was 6% of a massive market worth making the mini? That’s the only way to determine if it’s a failure or not, cost benefit analysis. Was it a failure for Apple to make an iPod touch for several years when it probably does less than .001% of the iPhone? Clearly not because they still produce them.

If the mini sold more than 6%, wouldn't that be worse for Apple? What if Apple made the price and features of the mini just niche enough to prevent if from being super popular (and less profitable overall)? If the mini had better features and a better price, you would get less 12 sales. These products interact with each other. And you can't call something a failure just because it's 6% of sales. Where did that 6% come from? This is too complex for observers to have a real answer.
 
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