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iPhone 12 mini iPhone 12 mini will sell better w/o 5G, cheaper and longer battery life?
- Thread starter supertiffany
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is 5G really that maximized today?
is your iPhone your main internet router or internet device?
At this point, Apple has probably already made a decision regarding the mini's future. This fall may be the last release we see of the mini.
Price isn't the concern. It's the tiny display.
Look at the way iPhone XR ($749) and 11 ($699) sold.
Look at the way iPhone XR ($749) and 11 ($699) sold.
In what world is a 5.4 inch display considered "tiny"? That was considered rather large just 5 years ago or so. Apple should just put calling features on the iPad, so all the people who want to walk around with massive devices can do so, and leave the PHONES to the rest of us.
Id be fine with taking 5G off the Mini if it dropped the price $100 on a 13.
I don't know if it's due to the Qualcomm modem or 5G but my brother's iPhone 12 gets 20 Mbps on AT&T 5G vs my SE2 which gets (an acceptable) 10 Mbps.
However, ever since Verizon's 5G rollout, I've been getting very poor service on my Verizon iPad. It went from 20 Mbps on LTE to 1-3 Mbps and websites would often time out while loading. It's possible Verizon refarmed some of the LTE spectrum to 5G in my area. That's why I'm planning to get a 12 mini soonish to see if 5G would help.
It's not my home internet but I do use cellular data 9-10 hours a day.
And 10 years ago, a 4" display was huge. Consumer preferences change.
Due to the form factor, the 5.4" iPhone 12 mini has only a 15% larger display area compared to 4.7" iPhone SE.
In other words, it's tiny for a smartphone launched in 2020.
I think I agree. I personally think it's priced just fine with everything that is packed into it but I think it's pretty clear there are two sides of the fence. There are those who just care about getting a larger screen size, and there are those who care about just getting whatever the best value is, and those folks are likely choosing the SE/Xr/11. I personally thought the 12 mini would be a much bigger hit than it is, and it's okay that I was wrong but if anything was going to make it not a hit it was the screen size, or lack thereof.
I think if it was priced lower then it would obviously sell better but you pay a price for things like 5G, OLED, Face ID, etc. It belongs in the premium tier of smartphone but that tier is ruled by larger devices, obviously.
and the iPhone 12/12 Pro only has a 15% larger display area than the Mini...
The diagonal length of the mini is misleading. Due to its aspect ratio, the mini is quite a bit smaller than the 5.5 inch plus models, and barely larger than the 4.7 inch models. 5.4 vs 4.7 makes it sound like a massive jump but it isn't really.
The market simply isn't large enough for a small premium device, thus the solution to the mini would have been to have targeted it to both small phone fans and midrange/price conscious fans. To do this I would have cut 5G and OLED from the phone and made it a 599$ device; you could even slap on a single camera lens and make it 549. Most mini owners seem to talk about how they don't bother with much video consumption, so I feel like apple could have gotten away with giving it a 720p LCD. It's not like you need OLED and HDR for scrolling through reddit and making texts.
Essentially, at its current price point, everyone excluding small phone enthusiasts will go for the 11 over the mini.
Essentially, at its current price point, everyone excluding small phone enthusiasts will go for the 11 over the mini.
This ^
After all these years people have gotten use to 5.5" 5.8" 6.1" screen sizes, it's not easy for them people to go to a 5.4" screen, I even struggled going to a 6.1" screen on the iPhone 12, returned It for a 12 pro max, the mini is a great piece of tech which might not have a big enough market for it to hang around unfortunately.
How times have changed, remember being in awe when I upgraded from my iPhone 4s 3.5" display to the iPhone 5 which had a huge 4" display back then lol, these days I say to myself how did I use such a small display back then.
I did when I upgraded from my 6s plus to iPhone X, damn that x screen was narrow AF. 🤦♂️
Leading up to the Iphone 12 launch there were rumours that Apple were going to release a cheaper non 5G, variant of the Iphone 12 mini at a lower price point, maybe this still might happen but heard very little thus far.
Me personally though, I brought my 12 mini for its compact size and all its premium features from the normal 12 i.e. the beautiful OLED all screen ceramically shielded 476 ppi display, 5G when i need it, A14 chip, the cameras etc, i want the whole package but in a smaller form factor and was prepared to pay the £699 for it with no qualms at all. I got lucky as my missus got a friend who works for Apple, so only paid £580 which is an absolute bargain.
Techlord, you have to take into consideration that Apple is a 2 Trillion dollar company, so have the resources to keep product lines running to please everyone, including niche markets for smaller, compact phones. With the SE 2020 and 12 mini they now practically own this niche market, offering both budget and premium options.
if using mobile date for that long almost half a day, the iPhone 12 mini should never be given the option, especially the battery will last only half that in SOT (4-5 hours)
exactly
I still think without 5G, it can be lessened down to $549, that will make the sales larger.
Not really a problem. I can easily charge it during use. Right now, I just need it for speedtest and hotspot while I wait for 5G to make its way to the iPad.
5G is absolutely NOT maximized today as we all know. That said, it DOES seem to help in some situations.
At my home for example (poor reception area), on LTE I get a max download speed of ~8mbps on my 12 Pro Max w/ T-Mobile. On 5G, the same phone in the same spot gets lower latency, and ~30-50mbps download speeds.
I work from home when not traveling. Which thanks to Covid is now all the time. When my wired internet provider (spectrum) decides to die... I rely on my phone hotspot to continue working. 5G has definitely improved this usecase.
I have an SE 2020 and a Mini. The Mini display is considerably larger when you place them next to each other, and ito a physical smaller device. Awesome iPhone.
But that’s always been the problem with smaller smartphones. They are always crippled with inferior displays, old processors, old designs or crap budget models. The Mini is the first premium flagship smartphone in a small form factor in quite awhile. Saying the market isn’t large enough for a small premium device is not true.
Apple screwed up on the price. A $599 Mini would have sold a ton. The $100 gap between it and the 12 is too small, especially in the US where many people get smartphones on monthly payment plans. The difference is like $2 a month, so most just opt for the larger phone. Apple being greedy as usual. Not like they would have lost money with a $599 Mini....
No way were apple going to sell a current flagship model with OLED, 5G, dual camera, new design, magsafe, for 599. OF COURSE if you undercut price wise as much as possible while giving great features, you can make up in sales. But such a premise is laughably unrealistic. To get to the 599 price tag for the mini you would need to cut some of its "premium" features, and if you want to keep the premium features you need a premium price tag.
I agree that the mini was overpriced, but to cut that cost you'd need to cut features like OLED which imo weren't really necessary for the mini.