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The problem with the mini is it ONLY appealed to those whose number one priority was a smaller modern iPhone. It battery life, a better camera, better screen, better materials or even a better value was more important then size you skipped the mini. I'll keep my 13 mini until I can't or Apple releases something more suitable. What I really would have liked to see is Apple take the 5.8" screen of the X/Xs and when they made the bezels smaller they updated the form factor to be smaller/lighter instead of continuing to increase the screen size (and the form factor). A 5.8" screen with the small bezels in the 15 Pro form factor I think would have been I pretty big hit. I think a 5.8, a 6.1/6.2 and a 6.8/6.9 Pros would be a bigger hit and just leave a single regular iPhone model. But maybe that is my bias as to what I want!

Also, any other vendor would have absolutely loved a phone that sold in the volumes that the mini did.
 
Still loving my mini, it is simply the perfect size. My significant other is (over-) due for a upgrade and while there are more factors than size, it is a driving factor for them and right now there is hardly an offer (if any).
 
The iPhone mini failed because the people on MacRumors' forums are a poor representational sample of the larger consumer population.
These are the facts, quite obviously.

And yet MR members will not acknowledge what age groups represents the largest number of iPhones owners, a demographic that “coincidentally” is the one that ranks the highest in SOT, highest in internet addiction of any age group, most time in front of devices, displays, consumer electronics, etc.

44% of iPhone owners are aged 16-24
34% are aged 25-34
13% aged 35-45
and the remaining 9% are older than 45.

Any of you who genuinely think any brand can sell a smartphone in 2023 and beyond that has a 5.4” display with a 2227-2406 mAh battery when Apple itself is selling a smartphone for $100 more that has 3227 mAhs and a 6.1” display needs to get out of their bubble or adopt some kids or teenagers, or talk to the ones that aren’t living at home anymore.

What do you think people aged 16-34 spend most of their waking hours doing?

And there’s your answer why iPhone mini was a mistake and could never have worked regardless of how high it was spec’ed.

-As long as Apple and other brands offer >5.4” smartphones with >2406 mAhs batteries for just a few hundred dollars more there will be no <5.4” smartphones outselling the >5.4” ones. No way, no how. Not happening.

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch is what’s happening on smartphones and an increasingly larger part of young people’s lives.

Those things require as much juice as possible and are way more pleasant to navigate on a bigger display vs. a smaller.

iPhones mini were DOA, regardless of battery size, finishes, RAM, design, display quality, OLED or LCD, etc.

iPhones mini simply don’t fit the demands of the current smartphone market.
 
The 12 mini was also a cluster of releasing shortly after the SE2 which gobbled up small phone sales and being a first gen 5G phone so the modem sucked battery. Then there was lock downs where people didn't really have to travel with a phone so a small tablet on the couch was fine. The 13 mini mostly fixed the battery but the damage was done.

I just upgraded from the 12 mini to 13 mini yesterday as I'm ride or die on this one hand usage, so we'll see over the next few years if there is something worth upgrading to.
 
These are the facts, quite obviously.

And yet MR members will not acknowledge what age groups represents the largest number of iPhones owners, a demographic that “coincidentally” is the one that ranks the highest in SOT, highest in internet addiction of any age group, most time in front of devices, displays, consumer electronics, etc.

44% of iPhone owners are aged 16-24
34% are aged 25-34
13% aged 35-45
and the remaining 9% are older than 45.

Any of you who genuinely think any brand can sell a smartphone in 2023 and beyond that has a 5.4” display with a 2227-2406 mAh battery when Apple itself is selling a smartphone for $100 more that has 3227 mAhs and a 6.1” display needs to get out of their bubble or adopt some kids or teenagers, or talk to the ones that aren’t living at home anymore.

What do you think people aged 16-34 spend most of their waking hours doing?

And there’s your answer why iPhone mini was a mistake and could never have worked regardless of how high it was spec’ed.

-As long as Apple and other brands offer >5.4” smartphones with >2406 mAhs batteries for just a few hundred dollars more there will be no <5.4” smartphones outselling the >5.4” ones. No way, no how. Not happening.

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch is what’s happening on smartphones and an increasingly larger part of young people’s lives.

Those things require as much juice as possible and are way more pleasant to navigate on a bigger display vs. a smaller.

iPhones mini were DOA, regardless of battery size, finishes, RAM, design, display quality, OLED or LCD, etc.

iPhones mini simply don’t fit the demands of the current smartphone market.
I love my 13 mini, but what you are saying is correct regarding Social Media usage in these age groups. What's even more worrying is that flagship phones with 5000 Mh batteries (like my partners S21 Ultra) are not even enough. She frequently has to charge her phone at least twice a day (sometimes 3 times) just based on her TikTok usage.
 
Like you icon?

More likely poignant insight... The fact is we are in a hamburger eating SUV driving world where "BIGGAH IS BETTAH"... Hell my next monitor is going to be a 57" Samsung Ultrawide..
As short and crude as this is, you are 100% on the money.

-The consumer will almost always want as much value/$ as their budget allows.

Putting a smartphone that costs $799 next to a smaller $699 option, and giving the $799 one 33% more battery and a 13% bigger display than the $699 one will just make the latter look like a bad deal (which it also is if you calculate mAh and display area in relation to total dollar amount).
 
I really like this setup. Magsafe battery pack resolves low battery capacity but iphone 12 series overheats. 13 mini is considerably better.
Yeah, my 12 mini overheats when in the sun. But so does my ipad 🤷🏻‍♀️
 
For a company with its finger on the pulse in so many ways, the glaring error they made with the mini is pretty unforgivable.

It needed a pro offering, or at least a telephoto lens in the camera stack. The 0.5x lens is worthless to most people and the 1.0x is O.K. - now they’ve released the iPhone 15 with a 2x telephoto, which is _exactly_ what the mini needed.

I’m a long time upgrader and iPhone only photographer, and despite my frustrations at having been pushed out of the pro camera range, I don’t see myself moving on from the 13 mini for a long time because of Apple’s obsession with the idea that someone who wants a smaller device can’t possibly be interested in pro features. It’s maddening.
Isn't it possible that it is difficult to put the pro equipment in a mini and the battery life is ridiculously low due to lack of space for much battery along with more power hungry electronics/camera/screen? As with many things Apple doesn't do , it is based on too many trade-offs.
 
Don’t be so ridiculous. If they didn’t want it to succeed, they wouldn’t do it, they’re not out to pointlessly spend money. Apple are about making money and the phone did not make enough of it. Simple.
But of course you of all people would know...
 
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The Mini is actually the perfect size for a smartphone. If you avoid addictive behaviours like socials and gaming the battery easily lasts all day and it transforms from a life sucking consumptive device into a digital Swiss Army knife.

But the people have spoken and prefer something to entertain them rather than something that just happens to be a useful digital sidekick.
 
It's much simpler to say the reason they weren't selling is because of price.
Make a simpler mini with one camera for $399o_O
That already exists. It’s called the iPhone SE.

I don’t understand why everybody wants to turn the iPhone mini into something that actually exists already. A cheaper iPhone is a segment of the market that is already met.

The gap that needed to be filled was an updated reasonably sized “Pro” iPhone, something that Apple hasn’t made since the iPhone 11 Pro came out in 2019.
 
Others have said it. Apple never gave us the mini that we wanted. We want all of the Pro features in a small phone. (obv not the same battery life - there's no real estate for that).

We would have paid the premium price for it.

I've always upgraded every year or two. I'll be hanging onto my 13 mini as long as I can...then agonize over what iPhad I have to buy a murse to carry it around in. :( Pocketable? Nope.

Seriously - put tip-outs on the corner of your phone so people can use it as a coffee table, Apple. :p
 
Apple knee-capped the damn phone before it got out of the gates. “..it fits in your hand” - anyone remembers that? Apple surely forgot that. The mini should have had the same features as the “pro” iPhones- no question. Why pay so much for less features-

This year, they are back to the same old BS, especially for this year’s pro line [horrible pricing strategy marketed under the guise as a ‘special feature ’ to avoid getting their asses handed to them by press/media for the increase in price] -looking at you Pro Max camera vs Pro camera. We see right through you, Apple.
 
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