There Is No iPhone 15 Mini: Here's Why

Hoping the SE becomes the mini form factor someday. I had the 12m, have the 13m now, but will most likely go for the 15 Pro until I see the return of the mini.
 
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 think they could get away with just making the iPhone 15, which they essentially did for several years. But the Pro sells well. If the analysts cited in this article are correct about the Mini and Plus, it would be interesting to see how three Pro models would fare. It seems like consumers treat the regular line the way they did when the regular line was the one year old flagship. It’s great that Apple now creates new models for the regular line. I have a 13 mini but I had an 11 Pro and liked it. I felt the 12/13/14 Pro were too large and heavy. I’m curious to see how the 15 Pro feels with the slightly shorter length and significant weight reduction.
 
Lakersfan74 said:
A mini pro would have to have all the features of the 6.1 at the minimum to be a real pro model or else it’s not. Battery life would probably be worse unless they make the phone extra thick.
A cheaper model with a notch, single camera system and 128 storage only is probably their best bet.
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If anything, the battery life would have been better. The ProMotion display can dynamically ramp down to 1 Hz when the display is not animating. In fact, if you compare the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro, you’ll find that the Pro is rated for longer battery life despite having a slightly lower capacity battery.

There’s no reason to believe that an iPhone mini Pro would not have had better battery life than the mini models they actually built.
 
Fuzzball84 said:
Smartphones are first and foremost communication devices... media consumption is a secondary role.. but in a way the larger screens do benefit communication role (email, video calls etc). Eventually the phones will decrease in size again... possibly with folding phones, but more likely due to increase in the use of glasses with built in screens. Who would watch a movie on a smartphone if you have essential a cinema sized screen using your glasses.
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Media consumption and communication have almost blended into one imo
 
johnsc3 said:
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-
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Not sure I follow this logic. The Mini didn't skimp compared to the regular (non-pro) iPhone. It has the same CPU, memory, display tech, camera, case materials etc. It cost less than the regular iPhone, but it's not a budget model in terms of its quality and tech. Some of the "pro" features (particularly a third camera sensor and lens) would be very difficult to implement in the small form factor without giving up all-day battery life (yes, my 13 Minis easily last me for a day).

I'm afraid the real reason is that there is simply not a big enough audience, since the majority of people seem to use their phones as entertainment devices. To me personally it's puzzling why anyone would use a phone to watch videos, play games, or browse the web if they could use a tablet or a computer with a big screen, but it is what it is.

What's really puzzling to me though is that Apple keeps the SE around, given that it is inferior to the Mini in every respect. Maybe the Mini is just too expensive to build to serve the budget segment, or too similar to the regular iPhone.
 
I ordered the smallest (size) in this years lineup- The 15 Pro! The reg may be a touch lighter, but the 15 Pro has the smallest width & height thanks to the smaller bezels. Coming from a 14 pro, then a 13 mini lately, this will be perfect.
 
I will use my 13 mini as long as I can and will buy used replacements as long as it receives software updates. And if Apple doesn’t release a similar sized or smaller alternative in the future I will have to purchase something outside of the Apple ecosystem. I don’t want to go back to Android, but I won’t buy a phone bigger than the mini.
 
Really seems that Apple's product/customer/market research teams are dictated to by the finance / pricing teams' need to launch the latest magical Apple price increase or margin accretion plan.

Stuff just seems "off" at Apple.
- Apple marketing is off in general in my opinion. Apple's marketing for the mini and certain other "non-premium" iPhones and other non-premium products is just not there. Many say that Apple never wanted the mini so they never marketed it correctly from the start. I can buy that, but what sane company makes a product and then kneecaps it?

- The product laddering of the iPhones seems off. It is far too tangled. 15 Pro... 15 Pro Max.... 15 Plus... 15.... 14.... 14 Plus.... 13.... SE...

Why does Apple need 8 iPhones on the market? At most, there could be 4 iPhones.
1) Entry level iPhone = an SE or a Mini. (a mandatory and permanent, sub $499 small phone for entry level market share and for move-up buyers / customer lifecycle management.)
2) Mid level iPhone = 14 Plus.
3) Premium level Mid SIZE iPhone = 15 PRO Mid-size.
4) Super Ultra Big-Max Premium level LARGE iPhone = a super, ultra, premium, LARGE 15 PRO.

- Apple's pricing and content science is a mystery as well. Most companies identify an unmet customer need, then they create a product / content / pricing plan that innovatively satisfies that customer need.

On the other hand, Apple first seems to identify a price and profit margin that it wants, then it creates a product to put the price on, and then it tells the public that this new Apple product is magical and must be bought to replace the last magical product they bought 10 months ago. If there is a point where product design or price offends the customer, Apple will automagically prioritize its design and price over the customer's satisfaction 8 days a week.

Long live Apple. I have to buy a MacBook Air in a few months so I will stop complaining now.
 
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Please Apple, I love the smaller size.

DONT LET THE FLAME DIE OUT.png
 
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 marketing and advertisment for Mini was close to none. Meanwhile I saw so many ads for the 14 max, especially that horrible ad with the 14 max yellow.
Mini didn't have discoverability. Of course it was not popular. Exceptional size, will keep my 13 mini as long as I can.
 
darktux said:
And if Apple doesn’t release a similar sized or smaller alternative in the future I will have to purchase something outside of the Apple ecosystem. I don’t want to go back to Android, but I won’t buy a phone bigger than the mini.
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Good luck finding any Android phone smaller than 6”. Folds will do it, I guess, but they are still very expensive.
 
one more said:
Good luck finding any Android phone smaller than 6”. Folds will do it, I guess, but they are still very expensive.
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There are a lot of smaller Android devices. There even is a 3” one. Of course it depends what one needs. But I don’t do much more than messaging, music, audiobooks and navigation.
 
El Szomorito said:
I'm a shareholder, and I want to see big free cash flow per share, and don't give a damn about profit margin. But it looks like someone keeping Tim Apple in his job is obsessed with it. Also the Mini had very little impact on the demand of other sizes, while Plus simply just cannibalizes the normal iphone and the pro max. I guess the number of people who bought an iphone becasue of the existence of the plus is in the single digits.
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I agree with you but I kinda of understand Apple current approach (although I don’t like it)

It about minimizing logistics footprint (number of different parts) to produce products while maximizing the number of models offered (to fill up market space) without regard to overlapping products. This not new for apple (e.g., LC IV, LC475, LC476, LC477, Quadra 605), not limited to iPhones (man mini pro, Mac Studio, Mac Pro) nor unique to Apple (all the different types of Coke soda).

The mini was killed off because it had to many unique parts while no being a Huge profit center.
 
Rigby said:
What's really puzzling to me though is that Apple keeps the SE around, given that it is inferior to the Mini in every respect.
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Even the SE will eventually be replaced. And I still doubt that it's going to be another 6" phone - or either a 4.7" phone in the current form factor.

As for a mini pro, even disregarding the technical difficulties (battery capacity), I doubt that there's much demand for one, outside of enthusiast forums (sure, I'd totally get one - but I am under no illusion that there are too many similar-minded people).
 
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