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Are you saying there's no Best Buy or other Apple-authorized retailer near you to check out their phones? You mean the Apple store is the only option?
Best Buy hasn’t let people in the store lately. I haven’t bothered to go to anywhere else yet and, honestly, I’m trying not to go to many places during these COVID days.
 
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Everything you said makes absolutely zero sense. I live in the town where Apple's stores first opened along with being close to their flagship store and when these stores closed down due to the pandemic Best Buy was still open so that makes no sense that if Apple is closed all the other electronics retailers would be closed.
Also what difference does it make if you handle the phones in Apple's stores vs. Best Buy's stores? That's what they make hand sanitizer for. Apple's phones aren't any more safe to handle than the ones in Best Buy.
You seemed to have misunderstood my comment. I never said that phones at one location were safer to handle than anywhere else. I said that if Apple Stores are closed it is likely that other retailers are as well, therefore leaving no options to handle the phone. But if not, I personally would choose not to handle display models (at any store) right now. Others likely feel the same.

Keep in mind that the extent of the pandemic and lockdown measures may vary a lot depending on people’s location.
 
The screen on the mini is only 1/10" smaller than the screen on any of the Plus iPhones. Those were ridiculously large phones with screens that weren't that big. The iPhone mini is awesome! The screen is dang near as big as a Plus, but the phone is muuuch smaller. Perfect trade-off.
 
The screen on the mini is only 1/10" smaller than the screen on any of the Plus iPhones. Those were ridiculously large phones with screens that weren't that big. The iPhone mini is awesome! The screen is dang near as big as a Plus, but the phone is muuuch smaller. Perfect trade-off.

It has a much smaller width though and that is the important part. The text is much smaller than the old plus models.
 
I get the impression that in android, the bigger the better (in terms of market adoption aka sales).
 
Sony pulled out of selling phones in Canada so won't see this one anytime soon. But honestly, never seen a Sony phone anywhere. It's like a unicorn. (Don't tell me you have seen a unicorn either) 😁
 
It's bad that the Mini still isn't one-handed because of control center. They need to move it to the top-left instead of the top-right. On the older phones you could swipe up with your thumb, but that gesture was replaced by the home swipe.
 
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Not really that small. Well, maybe for Android. It's just 1mm narrower but at he same time 1mm fatter than Pixel, and almost the size of standard iPhone 12. If you consider iPhone 12 is almost 2mm thinner than Xperia, there's probably not much difference when using it.

IMO if phone is too large for easy one handed operation, then it might as well be as big as it gets, as long as it fits in my pocket and is not trying to pull down my pants with it's weight.
 
Isn't that just like Sony of today? Trying to compete in a losing market. Apple is realizing they aren't able to sell a small iPhone, and are shifting manufacturing away from it, and Sony comes, charging over the horizon thinking they will Own The World Of Small Phones. A world that practically doesn't exist. But it might do wonders for Apple's anemic sales of the 12 mini. People will get a look at the Sony and think, 'Gee, too bad Apple doesn't make something like this. Oh, they do? Well, I'd rather have an Apple than Sony baloney.' What, it could happen just like that... *shrug*

Okay, okay, this does sound pretty good, but it's a Droid phone. It's also kinda large (haven't compared the size yet with the 12 pro max (It's taller (no notch), narrower, and thicker than the 12 Pro Max)) and NOT a 'mini killer'. That being said, would a Droid based phone the same size as the iPhone 12 mini be enough to drag people from Apple for a 'better camera'? How much can Sony cram into that small of a device. I don't think the 12 mini is a 'loss leader', but it is a rather odd market. My impression is that most people wanting better cameras and memory, etc, are looking for a larger form factor device. Why else would Apple use a lesser camera in the mini, except possibly they just couldn't fit it in the case.

I honestly have to say I thought Sony's earlier phones were a joke. That they are still int he business means they are doing something right, apparently, but that doesn't mean they can hit the sweet spot in a small full feature phone. Maybe they can, but the market would just seem to be a little too convoluted. Like a mini-SUV. Why? Or an SUV-sized 2 seat car. Again, why. *shrug* maybe there would be a market for such vehicles, but I doubt it would be large enough to make enough money to make it worth it. *shrug* But HDMI out on a cell phone, apparently without a raft of dongles and pricey adapters? Nice...
 
The guy in the picture has gigantic hands. The mini is not that small.

Same thing I was thinking... although, who says it has to be a man?

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I wonder how well going back to the smaller form factor will work for Android versus the iPhone. I know the mini isn’t selling well for Apple.
I really believe it's because the SE came out not too long ago. If people bought that, why go through the hassle of trading in/selling/etc for the mini.

As for Android, with the pixel 4, given that its a pretty small phone, it seems to work just fine in terms of usability.
 
The only reason I haven’t bought the 12 mini yet is I want to actually hold it in my hands first. With covid and my local Apple store being closed to browsers it hinders my ability to hold the device and be confident it’s what I’m looking for. I think I’m not entirely alone in that which may be a small (or not) part of why the 12 mini hasn’t sold as well as people expected.

I’m just not someone who wants to spend a lot of time playing games or watching video on small (yes, I consider even the 10.5” iPad smallish) screens.
Why not just order it online? Try it out for a week or two, and return it if you don’t care for it. We’re going to be living with COVID longer than most people imagine.
 
I thought the mini was not selling well so why is Sony competing?

Prior to joining IOS, Sonys were my favourite Android device. I’m hoping now it’ll make Apple release more smaller handsets as many prefer smaller phones.

Not according to recent news/sales reports posted here on macrumors.
 
Man I hope this is the beginning of the pendulum swinging back to small one-handed phones. Even the 12 mini is too big for me.
 
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Why not just order it online? Try it out for a week or two, and return it if you don’t care for it. We’re going to be living with COVID longer than most people imagine.
I don’t need two phones and I normally update my wife’s phone with mine. So it’s a bit annoying to handle all the swaps. I also like less hassle. I have enough in daily life :)
 
It's bad that the Mini still isn't one-handed because of control center. They need to move it to the top-left instead of the top-right. On the older phones you could swipe up with your thumb, but that gesture was replaced by the home swipe.
Yes! I have the mini and love it but control center is very tricky to reach one-handed. I still find the mini a little too big. The weight is great though. Even the new SE was too big / heavy to me.
 
As mentioned earlier, people here are forgetting Sony’s home market of Japan—one of the world’s largest smartphone markets, with a high turnover rate and good sales performance for top tier devices. Fortunately for Sony, Xperia phones are the top selling Android devices in Japan. I live in Japan and know many, many people with Sony phones. I’ve even used them myself from time to time. They’re well crafted and are great for audiophiles. I’m sure a smaller sized one will appeal to many. I prefer the seamless software-hardware experience that Apple has, but I can see why this phone would be a big deal. Sony just really needs to improve their US marketing...
 
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