iPhone 12 Sizes Compared with iPhone SE, 7, 8, SE 2, X, 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max [Update]

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Marketing: So, how many different cases are we making this year?
Tim Cook: Yes.

 

[sofila]

I just hope they don’t hobble the smaller size with fewer features. I never understood the “bigger phone = more premium/professional” concept they’ve been playing up for years now.

More money from customers' pockets to Apple's

 

[manu chao]

I get that point. I just don’t use my phone enough to make use of and be enthralled with edge to edge display, when I use my phone as a phone and not a computer.

Two use cases where I always wish my phone had a larger screen are not-optimised-for-mobile webpages and any kind of map reading. Editing actual documents are others but for these I accept that phone screens will likely always be annoyingly small.

 

[PickUrPoison]

When Samsung had a bunch of different screen sizes it was call “fragmentation”.

Samsung having most of their user base on old versions of Android is called fragmentation. Screen sizes aren’t particularly relevant, are they?

 

[manu chao]

The 6.1” size is the only size available in both non-Pro and pro. The 5.4” is only available in non-Pro and the 6.7” is only available in Pro.

If you want a 5.4” Pro or a 6.7” non-Pro you’re out of luck; like a 4” SE, Apple doesn’t think they’ll sell well enough to bother with.

Yeah, they should make Pro and non-Pro versions in at least four different sizes (4”, 4.7”, 5.4”, 6.1”, and 6.7”).

 

[PickUrPoison]

More money from customers' pockets to Apple's

So Apple’s customers want larger, higher end phones with more features, even if they’re more expensive?

Sounds right to me 🤷‍♂️

 

[manu chao]

My previous iPhone was an SE (the original SE) and then I moved on to an 8. It's a great piece of hardware but it's never quite felt right in my hand. I'm always juggling it a little or stretching or balancing it. I still have the old SE around as an extra device and every time I pick it up, it feels so much more natural in my hand.

One huge clue that iPhones have gotten too large for the upper part of the screen to be used one-handed: the "reachability" feature that slides the whole display down halfway.

A huge clue that iPhones should have a cursor is that there is an accessibility feature with one.
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I’d argue that it’s not necessarily potential lack of demand, but what you can physically fit in the smaller chassis. At the very least it’s part of the equation. You can’t just take all the bells and whistles in a 6.7” model and magically fit them into a 5.4” model. These physical limitations have existed since the iPhone 6/Plus when the Plus had OIS and then the 7 Plus got the second rear camera. Perhaps the reason Apple is upping the smaller Pro to 6.1” is because that’s as small as they can make the chassis while still being able to fit everything they want to include in the high-end flagship phones. In any case, I’m happy that Apple is finally releasing a smaller phone that isn’t a low-end version with an older SoC, a la the 5C or SE.

That can be a factor but I think the main reason is that the majority of people prefer larger-screened phones.

 

[speechmaker]

After everybody had their fill of declaring the small-size lovers as relics of the past and too few in numbers for Apple to target, Apple goes ahead and makes a smaller phone than any size in the currently-selling lineup.
What changed?

 

[keatth]

That 5,4" is the real SE2.
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imagine the difference in display size between 5 and that 5,4" 12. i think it will sell like crazy.

and the SE2 is the real iPhone 9

 

[biffuz]

Where is the 6/7/8 Plus? It's a weird omission...

 

[Ballis]

I absolutely love the size of the 5.4 and how they made it slightly larger than the SE.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

exactly, what we need is an “edge to edge” phone in a modern iPhone 4/4s size

5

 

[PickUrPoison]

Yeah, they should make Pro and non-Pro versions in at least four different sizes (4”, 4.7”, 5.4”, 6.1”, and 6.7”).

Why stop at 8 or 10 models?

 

[kschung9]

How would the 6.1 12 be the same size as the 11? The 11 already has bigger bezel than the pro’s because they are lcd. Not only is it supposed to be oled, but it’s supposed to have even thinner bezels than the current pro’s.

Yeah. I am thinking that iPhone 12/12 Pro should have narrower width than iPhone 11.

 

[slineaudi]

I don't think the iPhone 12 should be offered in 3 sizes. This seems like a road to fragmentation land where along with the obvious difference in size and price there are less obvious changes to standout product features like pro motion, OLED, true color, cameras, memory, batteries - especially if they attempt a lower price on some sizes. This may not be an issue for a lot of buyers who are just looking at size and price but for some of us this would be a frustrating choice.

 

[kerr]

Very disappointing that the 4.7” iPhone 6/7/8 and the 5.5” iPhone 6+/7+/8+ were not included.

 

[vipergts2207]

That can be a factor but I think the main reason is that the majority of people prefer larger-screened phones.

It’s less about whether a majority likes a bigger phone and more about whether enough people want a smaller phone. Of course you and I can conjecture on that all day long, but only Apple actually knows.

 

[gnasher729]

Not a fan of the new designs. The current 11 series is much better looking.

What designs? All you have seen is the backside of a piece of plastic that has the same size as the rumoured iPhone 12 sizes.

 

[manu chao]

Why stop at 8 or 10 models?

/s

 

[Hadron]

Leaving some features out of the smaller model to upsell people to the larger, more expensive, more profitable one is fairly standard. Samsung once offered the same specs in two sizes (bar battery and screen size, of course) with the S8 series, but have played exactly that same game ever since.

Personally I don't care. The 5.4" 12 has got my attention as being the right size without important compromises I can see, and it's the first iPhone in a decade to actually get my attention. The larger models simply don't interest me, so any extras they have are irrelevant to me.

 

[SkyRom]

Apple completely understands the market and the only way you would see them engineer and build a premium small screened phone is if they were ignoring how the phone market works these days. I don’t doubt there is a small niche market for a fully featured expensive small screened phone, but it’s all about return on investment. Today‘s consumers expect a smaller phone to have a smaller price. A 5.4” phone priced about the same as a larger screened phone would do poorly in the market. Apple is forced to price a smaller phone less and loading it up with the best features at that lower price would negatively effect profitability on that model. Just because you and a handful of other people on this forum wants a phone like that doesn’t mean that’s how the general market works. Apple knows exactly what they are doing and that’s why the 5.4” will be a standard non-pro model. I’m sure it will still be a good phone and will have a price tag that better matches it‘s size and features.

"Apple knows everything, nothing to see here" is the same logic that killed the Ford Ranger and Dodge Dakota in the US market, and it wasn't until Toyota sold 10 million Tacoma's that Ford/Ram/Chevy realized that maybe they *didn't* know better than their customers what they wanted.

 

[mattopotamus]

That’s not quite the case though. In a vacuum, based on screen size alone they’d basically be equivalent in one-handed usability. Even though the 5.4” screen is a smidge smaller, it’s also taller because of the aspect ratio difference, making it essentially a wash. However the 5.4” screen is also missing approximately half an inch of bezel at the bottom, which in actuality significantly increases one-handed usability over the 5.5”. Based on the pics, I’d expect one-handed usability to be roughly equivalent to the 4.7” phones. Not perfect, but still acceptable.

exactly this. By losing bezel size, you can reach more screen so the 5.4" display will land right between the OG SE and the 2020 SE.

It is nice to see Apple embracing people who want a smaller iPhone, and the fact it is the cheapest iPhone is an added bonus (still has 95% the features of it's larger counterpart).

 

[kimmen]

All the phones are obscuring each others width... is it height only that's important?

 

[ateslik]

But whose thumb has a 5.4” range of motion?

me.

 

[kerr]

All the phones are obscuring each others width... is it height only that's important?

I hear that some are more interested in girth