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There Is No iPhone 15 Mini: Here's Why

Shirasaki said:
Well, fragmented consumer base, too much variation of the feature set customer is asking for, plus overall weak demand, kills the mini line for good. On one hand, Apple didn’t really give mini a proper time to shine. On the other hand, customer doesn’t vote mini with their wallet hard enough either. The demise really goes both ways, and to me, the market has spoken for themselves: large phone.
Just a side note, Asian people don’t treat jeans picket that sacred compared to US customers. They don’t even care the added screen size and weight.
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The Mini didn't sell because it was not a pro & had a poor battery life, it's as simple as that!
As to your side note; there is a very simple and obvious reason why they prefer large phones (and it's not just Asian people), however if I spoke the truth, I'd get band for 7 days 😏
 
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rjp1 said:
I don't understand how people miss this.

I didn't buy the 12 mini, because it had 4GB of ram. I'm so sick of Safari reloading all the time (and other apps). I went from X to 12 Pro since it had 6GB. I was waiting to switch to the mini once it got 6+GB of ram. So I didn't buy it when 13 mini came out either. Once it was ended, I realized I'd just have to accept the pathetic 4GB of ram. I got a 13 mini a year ago and it is best phone even with the lower specs. I'll just use it until it is no longer supported and I really don't know what I'll do at that point. Maybe there will be a small Android phone - I've never used Android before, but I don't want to go back to a 2 hand phone.
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yea a lot of this.

When we're already spending this much on a phone, we don't want to spend it on a crippled phone. This is Apple's upselling tactics working at it's fullest.

Apple wanted to fragment it's product lineup to mark up the prices on the pro models and to upsell us those more expensive models. But they also went one step too far and fragmented it too much and ended up with fragments that do not have a good-enough ROI deemed by Apple.
 
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840quadra said:
Not exactly.

They could incorporate a pill shaped TouchID such as the iPad Mini 6 has. I use one every day and it is been quite good.
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Yes, this is the rumor that I heard which was the basis for my projection. If I'm not mistaken, there is also word of incorporating Touch ID directly on the screen so that could be another possibility.
 
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I have read the laments in these previous comments that the iPhone Mini was never a Mini Pro. As a happy owner of a 13 Mini, I am glad it is not a pro. The primary reason is weight. Before my 13 Mini, I owned an Xs for 3 years. I loved the its 5.8”size and the screen, and I hated the crappy Intel modem, but most of all I hated the extra weight caused by the stainless steel. And the 12 pro through 14 pro are even worse, with the huge camera bumps, etc. The lightweight aluminium frame makes my 13 Mini so comfortable to hold and keep in my pocket. And besides, I suspect the 3rd camera and other internals would had forced the use of a smaller battery, resulting in worse battery life if the 13 Mini was a Pro. IMO, I think Apple has made a good decision to replace the stainless steel with Titanium in the 15 Pros to lighten those “bricks”.
 
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people keep talking about the poor battery life lacking in perspective so much.
I came up from an aging SE 2016 that was barely getting 3-4 hours on a full charge.
The 7 hours I got from the 12 mini felt like a massive improvement and I could comfortable get through the full day with 30%-40% to spare. I imagine a lot of mini owners were people that were hanging onto their older phones as well.

anyway its funny to see that this was apparently the phone's downfall, meanwhile over the past few weeks, you were hearing a lot of outcry about how awful the 14 Pro Max's battery apparently was. So idk I dont think tech enthusiasts will ever be pleased.

final thought: I don't think it was ever about sales. People keep missing that the 14 Plus sold worse than the 12/13 mini, but I imagine the Plus will stick around for the foreseeable future only because it has the function of leading people to buy the most expensive Pro phones. I think the mini was axed simply because it was too close to becoming a "cheap" iPhone. the 13 mini after its price drop was priced at $599, which is incredible price for an Apple flagship. If it had stuck around this generation it could've theoretically gone down to $499, which is $70 off from the SE 2022, and those are leagues apart in terms of quality for that meager difference.
 
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applepotato666 said:
“People wanted Pro features” is a surprisingly popular opinion but what Pro features did the 12 Pro have over the regular 12/mini? It was just the 2x camera and nothing else really. So the reason wasn’t that.

What it boils down to is I just don’t believe it was meant to be kept around. It gave them an easy excuse to keep the same starting price while raising the price of the phone everyone buys by $100. Then when they dropped the mini they can say it’s the same price as last year for the respective model.

Additionally, Apple wanted for everyone to see it as “iPhone 12 but smaller” and charged the respective price, but the battery was so bad that everyone went for the larger models instead, as you wouldn’t be paying much more for that. The small amount of people who would’ve paid so much for a small phone because they genuinely want a small phone ended up getting the mini. That’s a lot of people on forums but a small amount among the average consumers at scale. Society has simply gotten used to bigger phones.
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Pro Materials (Premium Look) 6GB of Ram, Pro Motion and a much longer battery life....to mention the key ones!
 
madebybela said:
people keep talking about the poor battery life lacking in perspective so much.
I came up from an aging SE 2016 that was barely getting 3-4 hours on a full charge.
The 7 hours I got from the 12 mini felt like a massive improvement and I could comfortable get through the full day with 30%-40% to spare. I imagine a lot of mini owners were people that were hanging onto their older phones as well.

anyway its funny to see that this was apparently the phone's downfall, meanwhile over the past few weeks, you were hearing a lot of outcry about how awful the 14 Pro Max's battery apparently was. So idk I dont think tech enthusiasts will ever be pleased.
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Except the 12 mini battery is more like 5 hours, improved to 6 on the 13 mini, that's assuming you don't use Face Time much 😏
 
I downgraded from a iPhone 14 pro to a 13 mini. I prefer the lighter weight and ergonomics of the mini. Also, the wallet fits it perfectly.
 
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madebybela said:
Even less people bought the 14 Plus :^)
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What happened here is that the more tech-savvy crowd has always had an oversized voice in online tech forums, but this should not be confused as being representative of Apple's user base in general. I would wager the 14 plus sold at least as well as, if not better than the 13 mini, plus it would likely have better margins by virtue of its higher selling price.
 
gpat said:
It's not a conspiracy theory, it's more like a basic marketing strategy.
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And Apple has been doing this for decades. ( And they made mistakes as well like iPhone XR ). And similar strategy are used across a lot of other industry.
 
gpat said:
iPhone 15 Pro is effectively the new Mini.
Most people are buying the Max instead of it.
Apple could probably get away with making only the 15 regular and 15 Pro Max.
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I actually agree with this. Upgrading from a 13 mini to the 15 Pro. This is currently the smallest phone in the iPhone 15 line-up, and actually a 'Pro' model to boot. This would've sold crazy if not for the gimmicky 5x lens on the Max, which is way too long of a focal length to be practical
 
The bottom line is the mini was too big. The iPhone 4s was the last iPhone I could comfortably use one-handed. and if I can't use it one-handed, why bother getting the smaller phone?
 
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A lot of people want the size, but with the pro features. I’d sacrifice some battery life for a slightly smaller size. Even the regular pro is almost too unwieldy with a popsocket. I don’t know how people can do the max.
 
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4odomi said:
The Mini didn't sell because it was not a pro & had a poor battery life, it's as simple as that!
As to your side note; there is a very simple and obvious reason why they prefer large phones (and it's not just Asian people), however if I spoke the truth, I'd get band for 7 days 😏
Click to expand...
So Apple delivered a non-pro poor battery life mini, thus no one buys it. Who‘s fault? Apple? Or vocal minority voting with their wallet saying “this mini is not we want”, then Apple interpret it as mini market doesnt exist and subsequently cancel the lineup?

As for your ban-worthy reason, I don’t know how explosive it is, but I’d wager it is probably NSFW.
 
techfreak23 said:
A lot of people want the size, but with the pro features. I’d sacrifice some battery life for a slightly smaller size. Even the regular pro is almost too unwieldy with a popsocket. I don’t know how people can do the max.
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Ok, but I’d guess not enough people really tell Apple “We want a small phone with pro features”, or Apple just went their own way as usual and deliver a product no one wants.
Also, I know jeans are popular in US, but that alone probably didn’t convince enough people to support mini phone.
 
The iPhone 8 Plus was 5,5" and the iPhone 13 mini is 5,4". Somehow this is now small ?

The mini failed as it was named mini, and because everyone was talked into having an all-day battery is a must. BUT not everyone uses TikTok 5 hours a day. But almost everyone do have a charger near them at some points of the day.

I love my iPhone 13 mini. But I really miss the optical zoom feature. I might be forced to a iPhone Pro. But not this year, I'll wait at least another year.
 
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Maybe I share not my thoughts but experience:

I sticked with SE1 and now SE2. Due too size (small hands) and price for a new iPhone.
I wanted to switch to iPhone 13 mini in late 2023 or wait for new SE 24/25.

Guess what, went into a store and compared SE device size with iPhone 13 mini in my hand, not on paper. It is too small, smaller than my SE, but offers more display size. But it feels wrong. Next I compared device dimensions with iPhone 13/14 and it feels right, nearly Same than SE but with much more display size and battery on top.

Price: Now I need to buy 2 year old models used or refurbished to stick with my 128 GB SE price tag.

That is why in real life many people went with standard models. I was surprised myself.
 
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Remember the time when you could use an iPhone with only one hand ? 😆🤦‍♂️

Specs of the mini were enough for most people, not sure why people prefer bulky devices.
 
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All I needed was pro-motion on the 12/13 mini and I was in no questions asked.

I mean Asia Zenfone 9 has it, to go with a IPhone Pro Max rivalling 120hr battery life (GSMARENA) no problems. So I’m sure Apple could have nailed it if they wanted.

Even with the current minis battery life which isn’t great it was still sufficient to get through a day - and if I did smash the battery a little quicker I’m always near charge whether it’s in the car or at work or working from home
 
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