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Sorry, iPhone Mini Fans: Apple Isn't Planning Another Small Phone
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The iPhone 6 is tiny. Nice try.
I'm not suggesting we go back to the iPhone 5s form factor.
I just want to be able to reach the top of the screen with my thumb when using it with one hand, if you're going to put screen elements or gestures up there, which they / app devs do. And bottom of the screen, but not quite as important as the top.
I think this is a big part of Apples plans/hopes. They're leveraging some of the tech used in the 17 air for the foldable. I suspect they hope that a later generation of a foldable could be fairly compact while still giving users the bigger displays they seem to want. Time will tell....
Did you forget the device called iPhone 6 Plus?
Even back then, it was clear phablets were very popular, representing 50% of sales. Today, the Pro Max has clearly overtaken the Pro model.
For the 6 Plus, measure the distance from your thumb to the top of the screen, not the device. (There's a bezel at the top because it wasn't a edge-to-edge screen yet, right?) It's also tiny, compared to the distance from your thumb to the top of the screen in any of the phones in the current lineup.
iOS was designed for small phones.
Almost every app puts the search bar at the top, except for Safari and a couple others.
You pull down Notification Center from the top, you pull down Control Center from the top.
hardcore (influential) users = those-groups-who-purchase-the-most-items
While I remain adamant to the idea that the 13-Mini is Peak Apple™, I've never deluded myself into believing that I am in any Majority.
Influencers use their phone more than others for recording and viewing content. They want big screens. Most consumers are also increasing their screen time.
How do you get influencers to push small phones? That's completely unnatural. It would be like asking car enthusiasts to promote Toyota Corollas. Nobody wants them.
Based on your logic, iPhone 16 is also a tiny phone. Are you seriously trying to push that narrative?
Apple's Steve Jobs: 'no one's going to buy' a big phone
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Steve Jobs thinks your fingers are too fat for 7-inch tablets
Size matters, according to Apple boss Steve Jobs, and the upcoming 7-inch tablets from companies like Samsung and RIM are too big for your fat fingers.
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Apple's Steve Jobs: 'no one's going to buy' a big phone
In response to a question at its press conference today about whether Apple could've done anything to avoid its antenna issues with the iPhone 4, Steve took the opportunity to rip on bigger rivals, saying that making a phone so big "you can't get your hand around it" helps, but that "no one's...www.engadget.com
Steve Jobs thinks your fingers are too fat for 7-inch tablets
Size matters, according to Apple boss Steve Jobs, and the upcoming 7-inch tablets from companies like Samsung and RIM are too big for your fat fingers.
Of course Steve Jobs said that publicly.
What was Jobs going to say? "We miscalculated the phablet market. We wanted everyone to buy a small iPhone and pair with a big iPad for more revenue." iPhone 6 wasn't going to be out until 2014. Apple had no phablets to sell in 2010.
Jony Ive in this interview said they were designing iPhone 6 by 2011 which was "well over six" inches. Steve Jobs was still alive and directing things.
Jonathan Ive and the Future of Apple
Inside the top-secret lab where the world’s most powerful design team created the Apple Watch.
And his opinion may have changed/evolved over time for all I know.Of course Steve Jobs said that publicly.
What was Jobs going to say? "We miscalculated the phablet market. We wanted everyone to buy a small iPhone and pair with a big iPad for more revenue." iPhone 6 wasn't going to be out until 2014. Apple had no phablets to sell in 2010.
Jony Ive in this interview said they were designing iPhone 6 by 2011 which was "well over six" inches. Steve Jobs was still alive and directing things.
Jonathan Ive and the Future of Apple
Inside the top-secret lab where the world’s most powerful design team created the Apple Watch.www.newyorker.com
Another way to interpret what Jony said was... they had multiple prototypes in the pipeline... whichever would sell the most will be put into production.Of course Steve Jobs said that publicly.
What was Jobs going to say? "We miscalculated the phablet market. We wanted everyone to buy a small iPhone and pair with a big iPad for more revenue." iPhone 6 wasn't going to be out until 2014. Apple had no phablets to sell in 2010.
Jony Ive in this interview said they were designing iPhone 6 by 2011 which was "well over six" inches. Steve Jobs was still alive and directing things.
Jonathan Ive and the Future of Apple
Inside the top-secret lab where the world’s most powerful design team created the Apple Watch.
Going back to the Mini... when even Asus gave up on it... there isn't enough users to make it worth anyone time.
There is no question smaller phone sizes are towards the bottom and will stay that way(outside of a fold-able).
The issue with the Mini though was that it lived in a world where there was a similar sized but cheaper iPhone SE right along side it so there was clearly a lot of double dipping in that size class from the start. The SE was the original 'mini'... I even knew people who bought it years ago because it was the smallest iPhone.
So the Mini was a niche userbase to begin and then compounded with Mini and SE product cannibalization. My main point being if the SE didn't exist the Mini sales would be higher(or vice versa) though still would be small at the bottom of the lineup no doubt but could be enough to warrant it existing. Now Apple got rid of both of those sizes roughly at the same time and were back to just a SE but now it's a decent size phone.
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There is no question smaller phone sizes are towards the bottom and will stay that way(outside of a fold-able).
The issue with the Mini though was that it lived in a world where there was a similar sized but cheaper iPhone SE right along side it so there was clearly a lot of double dipping in that size class from the start. The SE was the original 'mini'... I even knew people who bought it years ago because it was the smallest iPhone.
So the Mini was a niche userbase to begin and then compounded with Mini and SE product cannibalization. My main point being if the SE didn't exist the Mini sales would be higher(or vice versa) though still would be small at the bottom of the lineup no doubt but could be enough to warrant it existing. Now Apple got rid of both of those sizes roughly at the same time and were back to just a SE but now it's a decent size phone.
Personally, I doubt customers for SE (2020) and 12 mini (2020) cross-shopped between the two devices. One was $399 while the other $699.
Keep in mind iPhone 12 mini was a completely brand new device. New design, everything from OLED, A14, cameras to 5G. Small iPhone owners including iPhone 6, 7, and 8 would have flocked to iPhone 12 if they really wanted to continue using a small phone. Most of them didn't and went to 6.1-inch.
There was a second opportunity for laggards (those who bought iPhone SE 2020) to upgrade to a mini device in 2021. Nobody bought iPhone 13 mini either.
Whats to doubt? They are the smallest and cheapest phones in the lineup. They have more in common with each other than the other phones. I see people debate the purchase between the two all the time in various forums.
One costs 75% more than the other.
How many prepaid carriers in the U.S. were selling iPhone 12/13 mini next to SE?
How many businesses were saying to their employees, "take your pick, you can choose a $399 or a $699 iPhone."
If most people cross-shoped between SE and mini, Apple would have deleted the $399 SE. They would just sell mini and rake in $699. Clearly, that's not the case.
The problem is they are basing this off years old data. Back when the Mini was first released, the normal iPhones and Pro models were also smaller back then too. I love small phones, but the small pro model was fine for me, plus the Mini was lacking the pro features. Fast forward years later and now all the phones have gotten bigger and I would love a Mini because I’m tired of all these huge screens. Bring out a smaller Pro model with all the same pro features and it would be very popular today.
I mean you are proving my point, the cheaper SE which launched 6 months prior to the Mini hurt it. This Reddit post explains sums it up nicely.
Apple went several years without a small iPhone. Due to this, more people than usual held onto their phone. Then, they released the iPhone SE 2020 after the 11 series. It was compact, had TouchID, and was powerful with its A13 SOC. It sold in massive numbers, satisfying that pent up demand for a small but powerful iPhone.
Then 6 months later the iPhone 12 Mini came out. There was no demand as few were going to upgrade after just 6 months. A year after that they released the 13 Mini, then the SE 2022. After several years of no small iPhones, they released 4 in 2 years. Of course the sales were front loaded then flat. That’s how this works.
They should just have a mini as part of the annual release cadence. After a few years sales would normalize like all the other handsets.
There is nothing there except speculation. Apple discontinued $399 iPhone SE in 2018. They relaunched it in 2020. We saw good uptake.
That post has no evidence to show $399 iPhone SE2 cannibalized $699 iPhone 12 mini sales.
You’re arguing size is the same so buyers must be the same. I’m saying it’s not. Forking out $399 is very different from $699.
100% this. I bought an iPhone 6S in October 2015, and hated the form factor. It felt too big, slippery, it just bothered me to use it. I bought an iPhone SE on March 31, 2016, I think the day it came out, and immediately loved it. It was the 6S, but smaller. And somehow only $399 unlocked. It felt underpriced, to be honest.
The SE wasn't the only issue with the mini, it had to compete with the regular.
The mini was $700, the regular was $800, and the SE was $429.
There wasn't very good price differentiation to justify people buying the mini.
People expect that a smaller phone should cost less, but $100 wasn't enough of a price gap. The SE sold well because it was cheap.
A mini priced at $500-550 would've been popular, it would've killed most of the SE market and some of the regular market. But at $700; people saw it and said "well for $100 more i can get the regular" and did that.
Before people start jumping in with a "500-550 isn't a realistic price" the 16E is $600, so why isn't a 5.4" version of it possible for $550?