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There Is No iPhone 15 Mini: Here's Why

Fuzzball84 said:
The surface laptop go 2 keyboard is noted as having a really nice keyboard... Id actually say the keyboard is more comfortable to type on than the M2 airs.. Thats my personal experience... reviewers noted how good the keyboard and trackpads are on surface devices now... its just a pity it's not backlit :/
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Ah, I see.. My daughter has a Go 3 for school. The keyboard -while very good for skinny tablet keyboard- has notable flex and sponginess. The trackpad, again undoubtedly good for a light windows machine, is cramped and comes nowhere close to the smoothness of a MacBook trackpad in terms of gestures... Go still has a little way to... ahem... Go... before it reaches Macbook levels of quality, imo.
 
waquzy said:
I wouldn't pay that much, but I wouldn't mind paying Pro prices for Pro Mini that's for sure.
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mattoruu said:
I wouldn’t go that far (lol), but yes I would pay more as well (more than I paid for my iPhone 12 Mini).
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I just now picked up my 3GS and turned it on (I use it to keep a pay-as-you-go SIM from another country active) and that form factor sure is a dream. Add an edge-to-edge ProMotion screen, the 15 Pro guts and at least one really decent camera, and I really would pay almost any amount for it. I would even prefer the plastic.

I have so many devices with screens of various sizes available everywhere, I really do not need my phone screen to be any larger than that. I would sacrifice screen real estate for portability, weight, pocketability, holdability, durability and one-handed use without a second thought.

I would love to be able to trade my bag full of devices for:

  1. Ultra-sized watch
  2. 3G-sized phone
  3. 10" tablet that can be used as an iPad, but boot macOS when connected to a mouse, keyboard and a 32" 6K monitor
 
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Zammir said:
Ah so it wasn't the size smh.
I would have easily paid more for an iphone pro mini o_O

Blah and they didn't market it well. #smallerphonesalways
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It's not just the marketing.
It's difficult to fit the same features into smaller space, this requires more development effort and costs extra. It's not that there is space to spare in mobile devices. There may be problems with overheating as well, so the CPU would need throttling or reduced clock speed, which makes the mini a "lesser device".
Especially the battery will be smaller, so battery life will suffer on smaller devices.

And let's face it, among the #smallerphones guys, there are different fractions:
- Just want a smaller phone at a decent price
- Want all the pro features, would pay extra
- Don't care for the camera, but want "Pro" materials (eg screen)
- Want the latest hardware (processor, camera, screen), don't care about battery life
- Want long battery life in a small package, fine with last generation hardware

So what exactly should the iPhone mini be to capture the largest group of what is a minority to begin with?
 
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coredev said:
It's not just the marketing.
It's difficult to fit the same features into smaller space, this requires more development effort and costs extra. It's not that there is space to spare in mobile devices. There may be problems with overheating as well, so the CPU would need throttling or reduced clock speed, which makes the mini a "lesser device".
Especially the battery will be smaller, so battery life will suffer on smaller devices.

And let's face it, among the #smallerphones guys, there are different fractions:
- Just want a smaller phone at a decent price
- Want all the pro features, would pay extra
- Don't care for the camera, but want "Pro" materials (eg screen)
- Want the latest hardware (processor, camera, screen), don't care about battery life
- Want long battery life in a small package, fine with last generation hardware

So what exactly should the iPhone mini be to capture the largest group of what is a minority to begin with?
Click to expand...

I think that most want the smaller size and lower weight.

I'd guess that lower price would be a large attraction but it would conflict with the SE. Lower price conflicts with the pro features and best materials.

Smaller size and weight also conflicts with pro features.

I think that the logical conclusion would be to merge the 13 mini and SE.

One additional faction you could add is the customer base that wants a smaller phone to run/bike/walk/lift with. There are about 50 million runners in the United States (Statista, Livestrong.com) and how to carry your iPhone while running is a topic that comes up on r/running. I see that there are bra pockets in the back, fanny packs, back pockets, slash pockets, drop-in pockets, vests - all kinds of contraptions to make it easier to carry your phone. When a smaller and lighter phone makes whatever solution you wind up with, easier.
 
My first iPhone was the 3G in 2008.
Then, the iPhone 4 in 2010.
Then the 5C, which was less than great.
Then the SE gen1, which was awesome for 5-6 years.
Now I'm using a 13 mini, which is the biggest iPhone I've ever had. I would like to keep it that way in the future. And if at all possible, I would also like my headphone jack back.
 
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neo_cs193p said:
My first iPhone was the 3G in 2008.
Then, the iPhone 4 in 2010.
Then the 5C, which was less than great.
Then the SE gen1, which was awesome for 5-6 years.
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Similar, but I have prioritized performance at times.

  1. Original
  2. 3G
  3. 3GS (peak form factor, in my opinion)
  4. 4 (not happy with the sharp edges or flat back, first time I got a case)
  5. 4S
  6. 5S (held out for the longest time, but wanted the performance increase and Touch ID, hated the tall screen)
  7. 7 (skipped the ridiculously large 6 and 6S, would have skipped the 7 if my 5S hadn't given up)
  8. XS
  9. 12 mini
  10. 13 mini (didn't really need to upgrade, but wanted to encourage Apple to keep it around)
  11. 14 Pro (huge and heavy 😞)
 
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I went from a 4 to 6S to 10XR. I still don’t see the need to update. Still get iOS updates, 4G is still fast enough for what I do, and the camera is fine for quickie photos
 
I still think Apple is going to build the next iPhone SE based on the iPhone 13 mini design. It'll look like a reduced size iPhone 15 but with Touch ID on an enlarged power button and only one rear camera sensor. And will likely be limited to 128 GB and 256 GB local storage to keep the cost down.
 
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GraXXoR said:
Ah, I see.. My daughter has a Go 3 for school. The keyboard -while very good for skinny tablet keyboard- has notable flex and sponginess. The trackpad, again undoubtedly good for a light windows machine, is cramped and comes nowhere close to the smoothness of a MacBook trackpad in terms of gestures... Go still has a little way to... ahem... Go... before it reaches Macbook levels of quality, imo.
Click to expand...
AH yeah, the Go tablets/convertables use the thinner detachable keyboard and trackpad... Ive had one of them before and they do flex... I had the Go 3 but changed it for the surface laptop go 2 which is a laptop. The Go 3 is still great, super portable and well built.
 
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Had 3G, 4, 5, 5S, XR (far too big), but phones got just enormously big after that one so I kept that one ~4 yrs. Wonderful to be back to an ok size with 13 Mini - 4 and 5 and 5S had even a better size ♥️

Keeping Mini until the flips comes.
 
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Lioness~ said:
Had 3G, 4, 5, 5S, XR (far too big), but phones got just enormously big after that one so I kept that one ~4 yrs. Wonderful to be back to an ok size with 13 Mini - 4 and 5 and 5S had even a better size ♥️

Keeping Mini until the flips comes.
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The 13 Mini is the closest thing we have seen from Apple that is a 'modernized' iPhone 5S.

It's an incredible little device and my hope is that the 4th gen SE isn't going to be yet another large phone like many here are predicting.
 
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0423MAC said:
Ha, not going to happen on the iPhone.

Apple loves selling you their AirPods.
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Actually since the jack went away I kinda stopped using headphones altogether. I hate having to adapt from jack to lightning, or having 2 pairs (one for phone, one for laptop).

So I just transitioned to not listening to music on my iPhone, and using the loud speaker for conversations and the occasional youtube. I don't use bluetooth headphones of any sort, because I can't imagine it's healthy to wear bluetooth antennas on my skull. I prefer the minor inconvenience of wires.

I still miss the good old days when I could plug my phone into any speakers or headphones, and still have the lightning port free for charging.
 
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neo_cs193p said:
Actually since the jack went away I kinda stopped using headphones altogether. I hate having to adapt from jack to lightning, or having 2 pairs (one for phone, one for laptop).

So I just transitioned to not listening to music on my iPhone, and using the loud speaker for conversations and the occasional youtube. I don't use bluetooth headphones of any sort, because I can't imagine it's healthy to wear bluetooth antennas on my skull. I prefer the minor inconvenience of wires.

I still miss the good old days when I could plug my phone into any speakers or headphones, and still have the lightning port free for charging.
Click to expand...

You can still used models with plugs. I have an iPod Nano 6 and my wife uses an iPod nano 2. I also have an iPod touch 4 and my iPhone 5 still works. I have an iPhone 6 with an expanded battery and am still trying to decide on whether or not to get the battery replaced.
 
neo_cs193p said:
Actually since the jack went away I kinda stopped using headphones altogether. I hate having to adapt from jack to lightning, or having 2 pairs (one for phone, one for laptop).
Click to expand...
Great news! Starting this year you can use a single pair of USB-C headphones with your Mac, iPhone and iPad, no adapters required.
 
AppliedMicro said:
You do realise that these features conflict with each other? ;)

I mean... not the bigger battery in itself - but the longer run time you want a bigger battery for. Now, I totally get ProMotion/higher rates greater than 60Hz on a larger iPad display - but on their smallest phones, screens (and their refresh rates) shouldn't be a priority.
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Yes and no, obviously I would be happy with a slightly thicker phone and a little heavier, but what I'm saying is that I would have loved a ProMotion small factor phone, that's all. 60 Hz feels too old now (especially after trying higher refresh rates)
 
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blairh said:
Mini is a very niche device at this point. It was priced too close to the 12/13. Would do better at a much lower price point say. Like $450. Update it every 3 years. Simply call it iPhone Mini.
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Had the same tech as the full size phone. I was happy to pay the price, but I think if apple can compromise and release last year's phone in the small form factor (to offload old chips - i.e. release a 14 mini or such - even call it the SE I don't care) and drop the price a tad it could make the old-design SE irrelevant.

The mini is a much, much more modern phone than the SE, going back to the SE really is stepping back in time in terms of user experience. The current SE is one of the few devices still with TouchID, way inferior camera and less screen area than a mini with worse battery life/size in a larger enclosure. No MagSafe either.
 
neo_cs193p said:
Actually since the jack went away I kinda stopped using headphones altogether. I hate having to adapt from jack to lightning, or having 2 pairs (one for phone, one for laptop).

So I just transitioned to not listening to music on my iPhone, and using the loud speaker for conversations and the occasional youtube. I don't use bluetooth headphones of any sort, because I can't imagine it's healthy to wear bluetooth antennas on my skull. I prefer the minor inconvenience of wires.

I still miss the good old days when I could plug my phone into any speakers or headphones, and still have the lightning port free for charging.
Click to expand...

My iPhone 8 came with a tiny little lightning to 3.5mm adapter back in ... whenever... which I use to this day.
 
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throAU said:
Had the same tech as the full size phone. I was happy to pay the price, but I think if apple can compromise and release last year's phone in the small form factor (to offload old chips - i.e. release a 14 mini or such - even call it the SE I don't care) and drop the price a tad it could make the old-design SE irrelevant.

The mini is a much, much more modern phone than the SE, going back to the SE really is stepping back in time in terms of user experience. The current SE is one of the few devices still with TouchID, way inferior camera and less screen area than a mini with worse battery life/size in a larger enclosure. No MagSafe either.
Click to expand...
The Mini will never replace the SE. Eventually the SE will be replaced by a no-frills iPhone that looks like the iPhone 12/13/14/15.

Instead I wish Apple would bring back the Mini at some point to appease the niche crowd. Something low-cost that Apple can update every 3 years.
 
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blairh said:
The Mini will never replace the SE. Eventually the SE will be replaced by a no-frills iPhone that looks like the iPhone 12/13/14/15.

Instead I wish Apple would bring back the Mini at some point to appease the niche crowd. Something low-cost that Apple can update every 3 years.
Click to expand...

That's what they do with the iPad mini.
 
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