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There Is No iPhone 14 Mini: Here's Why [Updated]
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only if se does face id, finger print on phone stinks, like it on mbpro. i love the mini hate big phones, very saddened
iPhone 12 mini has been the best phone Apple has ever produced. I have really liked it.
If iPhone 13 mini would have had anything new compared to iPhone 12 mini, I might have upgraded. Now that it was pretty much the same phone, I did not.
Would have bought iPhone 14 mini if that would have been available. Now purchased iPhone 14 Pro.
My preferred phone would have been iPhone 14 Pro mini: same form factor as the mini, same features as pro. I would have been ok with it being thicker to fit all tech and a larger battery. I would have ok it it would have been the most expensive phone in the lineup. Apple, please!
Apple should have given mini more time. It makes a lot more sense than plus for many people.
If iPhone 13 mini would have had anything new compared to iPhone 12 mini, I might have upgraded. Now that it was pretty much the same phone, I did not.
Would have bought iPhone 14 mini if that would have been available. Now purchased iPhone 14 Pro.
My preferred phone would have been iPhone 14 Pro mini: same form factor as the mini, same features as pro. I would have been ok with it being thicker to fit all tech and a larger battery. I would have ok it it would have been the most expensive phone in the lineup. Apple, please!
Apple should have given mini more time. It makes a lot more sense than plus for many people.
"It makes a lot more sense than plus for many people."
You have NO idea what you're talking about. As I said in a previous post, I am a store manager for AT&T 7 years and I hear the same things over and over again as the reasons people use.
Teenagers and below want Pros, whether they get it is a different discussion, they don't want minis and parents know not to get them even when buying without the children there. No one wants to hear their kids complain all day because they are being made fun at school.
Old people claim they like the smaller phones, but there is a condition that affects EVERYONE with age called Presbyopia. This group highly prefer phones they can read without using reading glasses, which is why the 14 Plus will EASILY sell more than the mini.
The average person fall into 2 main groups, the value conscience which usually go for the base models since they see their phones as just a tool, but a $100 difference is nothing for a much bigger screen which will only help sell the PLUS. The second group buy the Pro's because its an "extension" of who they are, the reason doesn't matter.
Whatever batch of minis that are received in the first month of release at stores rarely drops for the rest of the year. If anything the minis are usually sent back to the warehouse even after selling the phones at $350 with promotions, the minis do not sell.
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Mini user and yearly upgrader here. Sad there’s no new mini- because I was ready to buy! Really hope they bring it back.
Its better u improve your math skills, or realize the year we are in currently 😂
It's true that many people buy big phones for stupid reasons (and then complain when it falls out of their hands or is hard to use with one hand), but that doesn't negate that the "mini" (which really isn't mini compared to other phones historically) makes a lot of sense for many use cases and users. In a phone, smaller is better - because you use it while you are on the move. Otherwise, you just use your PC with multiple 4k screens, your laptop or at least an ipad while you're on the couch.
Many people order an iphone mini (or something similar) online and then keep it for the next 3 to 5 years. You'll very rarely see them in your store (I don't think I've ever bought a phone in a physical store since my first one in 1999).
The key issue in my view is that it became "cool" for mainstream consumers to just buy the newest iphone every year without actually actively using it. That's why some get the impression that this is what users really want.
Never bought a mini or have an interest in it. But to say “here’s why” is jumping to conclusions.
Because apple decided not to is why. One could point to the reg iPhone 14 simply being a 13s. Why even bother with the lower priority mini. Then there’s the plus version offered instead which looks to be an even worse product.
Trying to justify entry level devices or increase those sales is never easy. They seldom deserve the effort. I’ve no doubt apple could make a mini that redefines that segment. But is it worth the effort?
It’s not just replicating the bigger phone and shrinking it. It’s about making a smaller iPhone with unique UI or design. We’re just not going to see that level of commitment from apple unless they can price it accordingly.
Because apple decided not to is why. One could point to the reg iPhone 14 simply being a 13s. Why even bother with the lower priority mini. Then there’s the plus version offered instead which looks to be an even worse product.
Trying to justify entry level devices or increase those sales is never easy. They seldom deserve the effort. I’ve no doubt apple could make a mini that redefines that segment. But is it worth the effort?
It’s not just replicating the bigger phone and shrinking it. It’s about making a smaller iPhone with unique UI or design. We’re just not going to see that level of commitment from apple unless they can price it accordingly.
Out of curiosity:
Are you selling the iPhone SE? If so, how did or do its sales stack up against the iPhone (12/13) mini? Does it outsell the mini line?
Ok, so you're saying if we stopped calling it a mini and just called it iPhone Pro and threw pro features into it they'd buy it?
Perception is reality, if people perceive the "mini" as inferior (you know, like most things called mini are) because of the poor marketing strategy, then they aren't going to buy it. I assume as a store manager that has a grasp on sales and marketing you would agree with the idea that they marketed it poorly.
I am saying that I would buy it. I am saying that "It makes a lot more sense than plus for many people."
I am not saying that it makes sense for most people.
You are spot on in perception. Apple could have communicate mini to be on the top of the ladder by pricing it on par with Pro (and maintaining feature parity). I doubt "pro mini" would have been a hit, but maybe higher margins could have justified keeping it in the lineup.
This argument makes no sense. A larger display doesn't necessarily mean that the text is larger, just that there is more of it. And you can use the larger text sizes from the Accessibility features perfectly fine on a Mini. Besides, the Mini has more screen space than an iPhone 8, which was the mainstream iPhone not that long ago.
With Presbyopia you use reading glasses or progressive glasses. With a prescription of +1.5 or more, you cannot comfortably read text on your phone regardless of the phone size. On the positive note, your readers or progressive glasses magnify your phone - with +2.0 glasses your iPhone mini looks roughly the size of a normal iPhone.
Is it running iOS 15, as I thought it made the first SE very slow and draining the battery?
Great, that's probably accurate. Typically though when you have a sales issue you want to understand why it didn't sell well. I'm not convinced in the slightest that it's a consumer driven problem.
What problem that could be then if not consumer demand?
iPhone 12 mini was a magnificent creation: lot of power/feature in a small package, decently priced. But apparently the sales numbers did not match the Apple expectations. iPhone 13 mini was already in the pipeline and a very minor update: it had little chance of turning the tides around.
Maybe with better marketing mini could have been a hit. Problem with marketing a mini is that it would need to be pitched against Apple's normal-sized phones - making an argument that they are too clumsy.
IMO mini still should make more sense in the lineup than plus: Mini expanded the lineup to people who wanted a small phone. Plus does little - there is already a larger phone in the lineup. Pre-order sales reports also indicate that Plus is not selling that well.
That said, I think that Plus will sell decently in stores. For a customer that is not deeply into features they just decided: normal or large, cheaper or better. And the rep in the store explains that "Pro will have a better camera, but Plus has a darn good one".
Would be curious to hear anecdotes on what people think of mini - why it does not sell. @actripxl mentioned that they are a store manager. Care to share?
I mentioned it in another post but the basically no one wants it. That’s why the 12 mini was only 6% of iPhone sales the year it came out and the mini even less than that.
Old people have bad eyesight that comes with age, they look for a bigger phone that’s easier to read. Teenagers and below do not want minis, he’ll I’ve seen plenty trying to convince their parents to get pros.
The rest if budget concerns them, they usually get last years model at the size they want. Mostly everyone else want a pro version but usually desire the bigger size.
People talking about how the mini is great are a niche and the numbers show this.
Apple designers are growing old! Where once we had a thin spider scrawl to show the time on the Lock Screen, it’s now a legible chunky slab of text in iOS 16. They’re finally waking up to what it means to need reading glasses.
Well, preference is one thing. But tons of old people bought and used iPhone 6, 7, 8, X, Xr just fine.
Apple didn’t force you to „go pro“ just to have a bigger display back then, so the Plus models weren‘t much more expensive than the non-plus size - but still, the great majority of people preferred the smaller models.
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Apple wanted to answer the call of pro features in a smaller phone so they released the smaller phone without pro features. No zoom lens and no ProRes.
Oops I mean 6 years old, not 8!
Actually no I'm sticking with iOS 14 for that reason - speed and battery life is all fine.
I am typing this on an iPhone 13 mini. I want a phone, not a mini tablet, which is what most phones seem to be.
I think there are three kinds of consumers:
1. Those who have been using smart phones since the early days when they were all small (and used old nokias before that, which were even smaller), and never got on board with this “big phone” trend.
2. Those who once used to small phones long ago, but eventually gave in and bought a big one because they wanted the latest tech.
3. Those who are too young to remember when phones were small, and have only ever used the big ones.
The third group is a lost cause for selling small phones to. They will never appreciate small phones, because if you’ve never used a small phone before, it probably takes some adjustment to type on it, etc. And they’ve never questioned why it’s ludicrous to carry around a mini tablet and call it a phone. Seriously, just get a tablet!
I think all of Gen Z and a lot of Millennials are in this third group.
The second group is kind of fickle and harder to predict, but are mainly sold on having the latest features I think.
I obviously belong to the first group. I first used an iPhone 3G. The I used an iPhone 4, which was a bit bigger but still manageable. I stayed on iPhone 4 for quite some time, and got very comfortable with it. By the time I was considering upgrading, the iPhone SE Gen 1 had just come out. The SE was yet larger but the upgrade was worth it, and the fact that Apple was selling it cheaper was just a bonus. Mainly, I held out upgrading because I wanted a normal size phone (by 3G and 4 standards).
Then, I stayed on SE Gen 1 for a very long time, longer than I wanted to. Apple could have sold me a new phone sooner if they made one appealing. I considered SE Gen 2 when it came out, but since it was larger than the Gen 1, I just couldn’t get excited about buying it. SE Gen 2 is already large enough to worry me that it would cramp my style.
I thought Apple had abandoned me. Finally, one day I walked into an Apple Store and saw an iPhone 12 Mini, and I knew they finally made a phone for me. The “Mini” was the perfect name because it embodies the idea of Apple taking all their latest tech and squeezing it down into a small form-factor. Not a budget phone full of old gen parts but current hardware. I almost pulled the trigger immediately but decided to wait and ultimately ended up with iPhone 13 Mini.
Of course tradeoffs are to be expected. It doesn’t have a huge battery to give me wrist strain holding it for long periods of time. I can take it everywhere, barely feel it in my pocket…basically I don’t have to change my life around to accommodate the phone. I can fit multiple things in my pocket with the phone too.
Battery life is reasonable. I use it a lot and occasionally it has died on me, but it’s more convenient to regularly charge it than to have a mini tablet as a phone. And you can always bring a battery pack if going somewhere where you need the extra juice.
I think there are three kinds of consumers:
1. Those who have been using smart phones since the early days when they were all small (and used old nokias before that, which were even smaller), and never got on board with this “big phone” trend.
2. Those who once used to small phones long ago, but eventually gave in and bought a big one because they wanted the latest tech.
3. Those who are too young to remember when phones were small, and have only ever used the big ones.
The third group is a lost cause for selling small phones to. They will never appreciate small phones, because if you’ve never used a small phone before, it probably takes some adjustment to type on it, etc. And they’ve never questioned why it’s ludicrous to carry around a mini tablet and call it a phone. Seriously, just get a tablet!
I think all of Gen Z and a lot of Millennials are in this third group.
The second group is kind of fickle and harder to predict, but are mainly sold on having the latest features I think.
I obviously belong to the first group. I first used an iPhone 3G. The I used an iPhone 4, which was a bit bigger but still manageable. I stayed on iPhone 4 for quite some time, and got very comfortable with it. By the time I was considering upgrading, the iPhone SE Gen 1 had just come out. The SE was yet larger but the upgrade was worth it, and the fact that Apple was selling it cheaper was just a bonus. Mainly, I held out upgrading because I wanted a normal size phone (by 3G and 4 standards).
Then, I stayed on SE Gen 1 for a very long time, longer than I wanted to. Apple could have sold me a new phone sooner if they made one appealing. I considered SE Gen 2 when it came out, but since it was larger than the Gen 1, I just couldn’t get excited about buying it. SE Gen 2 is already large enough to worry me that it would cramp my style.
I thought Apple had abandoned me. Finally, one day I walked into an Apple Store and saw an iPhone 12 Mini, and I knew they finally made a phone for me. The “Mini” was the perfect name because it embodies the idea of Apple taking all their latest tech and squeezing it down into a small form-factor. Not a budget phone full of old gen parts but current hardware. I almost pulled the trigger immediately but decided to wait and ultimately ended up with iPhone 13 Mini.
Of course tradeoffs are to be expected. It doesn’t have a huge battery to give me wrist strain holding it for long periods of time. I can take it everywhere, barely feel it in my pocket…basically I don’t have to change my life around to accommodate the phone. I can fit multiple things in my pocket with the phone too.
Battery life is reasonable. I use it a lot and occasionally it has died on me, but it’s more convenient to regularly charge it than to have a mini tablet as a phone. And you can always bring a battery pack if going somewhere where you need the extra juice.
If that were to occur then Apple would need to increase their margins just for the mini.
My guess is Apple lost mini with the 12 & 13 minis.
Steve Jobs may have had sold more iPhone if he skipped 3.5" 2007 model and went straight to
- 6.7"
- 6.1"
What will you be buying 5-10 years from today?
Apple giving up on the 5.4" mini would discourage Android users from developing a phone that small