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LOL at the mini fans desperately trying to make excuses why it was cancelled. It bombed catastrophically because only a very vocal minority wanted it. The sales speak for themselves. Just be happy that you got 2 models of it because you’ll never see it again.
Bombed catastrophically? According to the stats over 10 million Minis were sold in total. That's like the entire population of Belgium
 
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Percentages are a narrow way to look at things. If you only care about percentages, that means that you're going to negatively impact large numbers, but small percentages, of people. If you're posting here, then presumably you're a power user who benefits from, at the very least, software features that are used only by small percentages of users. It would be a real shame if Apple started removing features like Services, Spaces, batch file renaming and the ability to disable Gatekeeper and SIP.

Uh, no, like I said, percentages put things into perspective. If someone says, "millions of people in this country support this cause, so we need to pass this law", that sounds very impressive . . . until you discover that those "millions" are less than 1% of your country's population and that 99.x % do NOT support it.

Also, you're comparing software features that have already been developed and only need to be maintained at very minimal development cost as part of an entire OS to developing and producing an entire hardware product each year. Not a great analogy.
 
The price and the name are the reasons why I believe the Mini didn't do so well.

Priced too high and the name made it sound inferior, when in reality it was identical to its larger sibling in capabilities (aside from the smaller battery duh). It's a shame the Mini didn't receive enough spotlight.
 
Bombed catastrophically? According to the stats over 10 million Minis were sold in total. That's like the entire population of Belgium

This is like saying, "Apple really splurged when they spent 10 million dollars on something . . . that's like more than will make in my entire lifetime!" except Apple is a multi-trillion dollar company and 10 million is like 5 millionths of 1 percent of their worth. Percentages put things in perspective, like I was telling the other person.
 
Uh, no, like I said, percentages put things into perspective.

Percentages matter little in a high volume market in my view. It offers enough profit to make it viable. If you have the opportunity to sell 10 million devices that you wouldn't sell otherwise, why not take it? Especially because that can help you with the sale of other apple products (e.g. someone who opted into buying a fairphone instead won't buy an apple watch) and the commonality with the rest of the phone lineup saves on R&D costs.

As an example, Nintendo still sells the Switch lite even though it's a niche product and almost everyone I know goes for the proper Switch.
 
Percentages matter little in a high volume market in my view. It offers enough profit to make it viable. If you have the opportunity to sell 10 million devices that you wouldn't sell otherwise, why not take it? Especially because that can help you with the sale of other apple products (e.g. someone who opted into buying a fairphone instead won't buy an apple watch) and the commonality with the rest of the phone lineup saves on R&D costs.

As an example, Nintendo still sells the Switch lite even though it's a niche product and almost everyone I know goes for the proper Switch.

Opportunity cost.

Apple doesn’t have unlimited engineering resources. TSMC chips aren’t free. Apple Stores don’t have unlimited shelf space. Foxconn and Luxshare don’t have unlimited assembly capacity either.

Look at the iPhone 14 Plus for example. Right now, it’s shipping in October. That’s certainly not something Apple wants to do. Can you imagine if Apple added a 5th iPhone to the lineup?
 
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Next iPhone SE update should be iPhone SE 2024, following the two years cadence. Flagship iPhone will get the new cut out design in 2023. iPhone 12 mini is already discontinued. Same will likely happen to 13 mini next year.

Leaving the Mini Design for SE 2024.
 
Opportunity cost.

Apple doesn’t have unlimited engineering resources. TSMC chips aren’t free. Apple Stores don’t have unlimited shelf space. Foxconn and Luxshare don’t have unlimited assembly capacity either.

Look at the iPhone 14 Plus for example. Right now, it’s shipping in October. That’s certainly not something Apple wants to do. Can you imagine if Apple added a 5th iPhone to the lineup?
Is that an issue that the 14+ ships in october?
Except if you're phone is broken and you need a replacement asap, I don't think it matters much.

I understand that currently there is a shortage of capacity due to the pandemic and the war, so maybe it'll come back in future years (doesn't have to be every year).

btw, I almost never buy electronics in stores. The shelves always offer a very, very limited amount of offers. We have some apple stores in the city, but most people I know just order their phones online. Smartphones nowadays look all the same anyway. And here in Switzerland, iphones are very popular.
 
Next iPhone SE update should be iPhone SE 2024, following the two years cadence. Flagship iPhone will get the new cut out design in 2023. iPhone 12 mini is already discontinued. Same will likely happen to 13 mini next year.

Leaving the Mini Design for SE 2024.
Umm..were you posting this from 2021? :D
 
Is that an issue that the 14+ ships in october?
Except if you're phone is broken and you need a replacement asap, I don't think it matters much.

I understand that currently there is a shortage of capacity due to the pandemic and the war, so maybe it'll come back in future years (doesn't have to be every year).

btw, I almost never buy electronics in stores. The shelves always offer a very, very limited amount of offers. We have some apple stores in the city, but most people I know just order their phones online. Smartphones nowadays look all the same anyway. And here in Switzerland, iphones are very popular.

Yes, it's a big issue because Apple loses an entire month of sales.

Apple sells over 200 million iPhones each year, so each month and each day of sales counts. The company releases a new model every 12 months, so losing a month of sales is a big deal.

iPhone XR and X also started delivery late. It has nothing to do with pandemic or war. During years where Apple launches major refreshes, there is a high probability of delay with at least one model due to limited engineering resources.
 
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"Analysts" keep saying the sales number of the mini is bad and that is why Apple pull the plug, are the very same kind of people thinking vanilla ice cream sells and we shall have 20 flavors of vanilla ice cream. :rolleyes:
 
I definitely would have bought a Pro Mini. I needed the cameras, so I bought the smaller Pro.

I think the mini failed though because they not once (AFAIK) ran a single ad for it.
 
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Yes, it's a big issue because Apple loses an entire month of sales.

Apple sells over 200 million iPhones each year, so each month and each day of sales counts. The company releases a new model every 12 months, so losing a month of sales is a big deal.
But someone wants a 14+, they'll just get it a month later. It's not a lost sale, it's only a deferred sale.

Except when the phone breaks, they need another one asap and then choose another brand because the 14+ was their only option. But the Pro Max has the same form factor, is available earlier and it doesn't seem to be worse in any relevant metric than the plus (just looked briefly at it). Just a bit more pricey.
 
I switched from Android to iPhone largely because Apple was offering small phones that were actually decent. Initially I got the SE, and when I realized the 13 mini might be the last one I upgraded to it. My hope is the SE will in time adopt the mini form factor. I’m fine with “last generation” internals, as long as it’s a decent device and not budget junk.

Under no circumstances will I switch to a larger phone though. I’ll switch back to Android if need be, or even to a crappy flip phone before I’ll “go big.” I do recognize it’s a niche market but I’m hoping some company, ideally Apple, recognizes there’s a small but dedicated market for smaller devices. Time will tell i guess!
 
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I don't think the price is an issue. Further, lowering the price removes sales margin and thus an incentive to create it in the first place.

The iphone 12 mini was the first iphone I bought (and the first without keyboard in over a decade), and one of the reasons was that it was one of the most miniaturized phones available. Bigger phones (e.g. fairphone) are cheaper, but they are harder to handle, especially with one hand, and thus I would be inclined to pay less for them. A phone to me is a device that is primarily used on the go, while walking, shopping, working out, hiking etc.
Anything slightly bigger and still mobile, I use my ipad. Then my MacBook. And at home I have my workstation anyway with multiple 4k and 2k screens if I really need to do stuff.

Battery size doesn't matter that much to me. Smartphones don't last long anyway, a bigger phone is not going to give me 1 or 2 weeks of battery life like in the olden days. And whenever I'm out of the house for more than a couple of hours, I carry a bag with me anyway that can hold a charger and/or a power pack. Switching to 4G (5G uses power and is only needed in access point mode for me) and low power mode, the mini has more than enough battery life.

I'd be happy to have a mini every 2 or 3 years. One of the big upsides for using apple phone is the long software support they come with. Spare parts are also available (even though costly).

One last thing: the mini to me isn't actually mini. It is bigger than the Blackberry Q10, which was my favourite phone of the last decade. With the missing keyboard, it features quite a big screen size. I can even read ebooks in public transport comfortably while standing.
They should have made an iPhone Mini will less features instead of a Mini version of the iPhone 12/13. People just want the iPhone Mini for its size. It failed when they made it on par with their flagships.

I'm curious if it will stay in the lineup. I hope it will because I think there is always a market for compact iPhones. That is of course a niche market now.
 
I waited for the reveal of the iPhone 14 on 07.09.22 and bought an iPhone 13 mini when the rumors became true that there is no 14 mini.

The mini size and weight is ideal for me because I can use it one handed and it fits in every pocket. I had an 12 mini but upgraded (prematurely) to the 13 mini because I plan to hold on my mini for a very long time (or until a new mini comes out).
Too bad almost nobody cares about using their phone one handed.
 
I would say a non pro mini is as niche as it gets.

You need to find people who don't care about specs,
but still want to pay a lot more than they would for a similar sized SE.

For these people the SE or "the bigger screen for $100" looks like a much better deal.

The market is there for a one handed flagship,
but not so much for a not-so-cheap cheap-phone..

I just bought a mini last week anyway since I thought Apple might remove it from the lineup.
The size is nice but the fact that its built like a 13 and not a 13 pro sucks.

Quite sure they would've made at least as much money,
if they built it like a PRO and priced it the same as the PRO MAX.
No way. The market for a Pro Mini is more niche than a non-Pro Mini. You have it totally backwards.

The majority of people who want an iPhone Mini want it for the size alone. People who want power behind that size are a smaller market.

They should have just offered an iPhone Mini with less specs and gotten rid of the SE.
 
And like I just said, you'd then lose sales due the the sacrifices that would have to be made to get it to that price point. The market is simply not there right now for either the higher priced Mini with better features or lower priced Mini with stripped down features. If Apple thought there was a viable market for the latter, then they'd have gone for it. Things may change in the future, but currently it's simply not viable.
They didn't offer a cheaper Mini because they thought there was a market for a Mini version of their flagship. They thought wrong. They lost.

Now they have learned their lesson. I totally disagree with you that there isn't a market for a lower spec iPhone Mini. They should have ditched the SE and offered the Mini instead with less power.
 
They want you to buy a higher priced flip phone in a year or two instead of a cheaper mini.
 
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