In 2020, Apple surprised a lot of people by re-entering a neglected segment of the smartphone market: small phones. With iPhone 12 mini, Apple did something fairly special, by squeezing all of the same technologies of the iPhone 12 into a 5.4-inch form factor. Unfortunately, it didn’t live for too long, but thanks to a recent lineup change, a new window might’ve opened for its resurgence.
iPhone mini history
The iPhone mini ultimately lived a 2 year life. There was the iPhone 12 mini, then a subsequent iPhone 13 mini. That was the end of the road for the iPhone mini.
It was then replaced by the polar opposite the next year, with iPhone 14 Plus joining the lineup.
Why did the iPhone mini fail? Ultimately, it served a new market by catering to those who want a smaller phone. There’s been a very large audience of people who want small phones, and Apple even addressed this when they introduced the original iPhone SE back in 2016.
My guess? I think people ultimately did not want to pay $699 for a small iPhone with compromised battery life, when ultimately you could get the larger phone with satisfactory battery for just $100 more. People love small phones, just not at the price of the iPhone mini. I think that’s a key difference in why the original iPhone SE thrived and the iPhone 12/13 mini did not. Price point matters.
A new iPhone mini model
Earlier this year, Apple introduced iPhone 16e at $599. It’s a 6.1-inch iPhone that’s ultimately a version of the iPhone 14 with a USB-C port, A18 chip, and a single camera. It’s only available in that one 6.1-inch size. Meanwhile, the rest of the iPhone lineup offers two sizes.
While it’s unlikely that Apple would take this risk, I think it’d be incredibly nifty to re-introduce the iPhone mini underneath its new ‘e’ lineup of devices. An iPhone 16e mini (perhaps they’d call it something else) at $499 could be quite a compelling offering for a lot of people.
At that price point, I think a lot of the trade-offs required to create a small phone become a lot more justifiable.
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