I hope Apple make another ‘small’ iPhone in a year or two. I don’t really want to have to buy a huge phablet, and I don’t need a new iPhone every year. A future SE based on the 12 or 13 mini with updated internals seems the most likely route for another ‘small’ iPhone if the mini is not updated. My 13 mini battery’s maximum capacity is at 89% and I’ll likely get the battery replaced when necessary. Alternatively, Apple could sell me a ‘Pro Mini’ for much more money. If they want more of my money sooner.
People say the mini was not popular, but I would argue that even a small fraction of iPhone sales is a successful (and likely profitable) product, and Apple would be unwise to abandon those customers who don’t want a huge phone, both for reasons of money and brand loyalty. I also think the 12 and 13 minis were (and are) oddly positioned in the line-up, somewhat badly marketed by Apple (and even worse by carriers who obviously want to upsell if they are even
aware of the mini in some instances(!)), and that the pandemic likely played a part in suppressing sales too as people being and working at home likely lessened the need or attraction for portability at least a little.
At the same time I think I understand why both manufacturers and the tech media have pushed consumers towards larger and larger devices. They have given justification for higher and higher prices which people are happy to pay, and they ultimately mean more advertising space for everyone who advertises through them.
I also think the idea that it’s as simple as ‘it must not make money or they’d keep doing it’, whilst being a reasonable and logical opinion, is not necessarily the whole picture. Apple have abandoned many things that were making them money because they were either trying to push technology in a certain direction or make even more money, or often both. Not every decision they make is
exclusively about profit. They like control, they like to advance technologies and they like to frame the market they way they want it. Sometimes that pays off handsomely (e.g. the anti-consumer wireless headphone push and ‘courage’ argument = massive profits through essentially forced adoption), but sometimes it doesn’t (e.g. the MacBook Pro’s Touchbar that no-one asked for and very few apparently wanted. I thought it was kinda cool, it just shouldn’t have replaced any other keys… *shrug*).
From 2007 - 2014 tens of millions of iPhones were sold in what are now deemed by many as ’tiny’ and ‘unusable’ form factors. And yet few would seriously argue the iPhone only became a successful product with the iPhone 6 and later/even larger devices, would they? In fact, those of us old enough will remember the days when a new iPhone release inspired excited lines down the street, camped out for hours before the stores opened… all for those apparently tiny devices people now say are only for people with tiny hands that would be crazy to buy… funny how things change. Even more iPhones are sold nowadays of course, but the notion that tens of millions of people were repeatedly, over many years, buying devices they couldn’t use is a very odd one.
I accept many people want large iPhones and that many of those people would have wanted large phones regardless of any other factors. However, I think the way many people have been pushed towards that view has been highly manipulative over many years.
I’d actually go back to the 2016 SE form factor in a heartbeat if it had updated internals. For me that was the best iPhone experience in almost every way.
Finally, the way certain people (both individuals and media) almost drool at the prospect of other people being denied a product is weird and distasteful to me. Other people don’t always have to ‘lose’ for you to ‘win‘ and get what you want. I’m very happy people who want huge phones have them available, genuinely. I just don’t know why some people seem to take so much delight in other people not having the smaller phones that they want. I would never want Apple to remove the option of large, Pro Max-size phones, because I understand (as just one example) some people run their whole digital lives from their iPhones and need the larger screens, and that’s great if that works for them. Just like some people need a ‘tiny’ lightweight Macbook Air, and others may need a Mac Pro (with the wheels!).
TL;DR - Don’t tell me what I should like on my pizza and I’ll happily respect your choices too - we don’t have to eat each other’s pizza.
