[erikw]

I'd be curious to understand their rationale for not making a small, reasonably priced phone like the iPhone SE used to be. I probably will be leaving the iPhone ecosystem the next time I have to buy a smartphone (even though I use a Mac, iPad, and Airpods, which all work together really well) because I'm uninterested in using a large phone.

Thinking through my own use case, I just use my phone for messaging, maps, and the occasional app, so I'm not going to need a big screen for consuming content. I also don't want to spend a lot of money on a phone, since I don't need any fancy features. So perhaps that intersection of use cases doesn't make much sense to target?

[r0fl]

Phones are used to consume content. Bigger screens make consuming content better. Therefore smaller screens do not sell well.

The sales back up my statements.

Yes I romanticize about an iPhone 17 mini pro but in the end I like being able to watch some downloaded content on a plane without having to bring an iPad from time to time and I'm not going to do that on a tiny screen.

[dijit]

I feel like the sales data would back you up, if it wasn’t for the fact that the 12 and 13 mini were larger than the iPhone 6 and 6S which for many people was too large.

It’s a bit like selling increasingly carbonated water and then selling slightly less carbonated water and pretending that it was still water that you were selling- and using the data (of nobody buying it) to tell everyone that “nobody likes the still water; so we will continue only selling carbonated and carbonated+.”

[Jtsummers]

> if it wasn’t for the fact that the 12 and 13 mini were larger than the iPhone 6 and 6S which for many people was too large.

I don't get why people make statements like this.

6: 2.64 (W) x 5.44 (H) x .27 (D)

6s: 2.64 (W) x 5.44 (H) x .28 (D)

13 mini: 2.53 (W) x 5.14 (H) x 0.30 (D)

The only dimension in which the mini was larger than the 6 or 6s was in depth, and that was just barely. It was smaller otherwise.

It did have a larger display, but it fit it into a smaller device.

----

All iPhones before the iPhone 6 were smaller than the 12 and 13 minis. The 1st gen SE was smaller. Everything from 6 on, including the 2nd and 3rd gen SEs, have been larger, though barely for the SEs. The downside to the SEs compared to the minis was that they have smaller displays than the minis.

[dijit]

I literally laid them on top of each other and the 6 was marginally larger.

Betrays the point anyway: the ideal size was the 5 and it was nowhere near that, even by your official numbers (which I would guess are excluding the rounded edges maybe? - regardless, not the point)

[Jtsummers]

> I literally laid them on top of each other and the 6 was marginally larger.

So you did that and still wrote that the minis were larger? Or you did that after I pointed out that the minis were smaller?

[dijit]

Apologies, what I meant was "larger than an iPhone 5/5s";

I provided pictures in a sibling comment thread to show what I mean, there's about 20% of a difference between the iPhone 5 and 6, and that size difference is very similar for the mini.

If people wanted to buy a phone that was the size of the 6, they would have purchased the SE from 2020, which was that roughly that size.

[mrheosuper]

no way the 6/6s smaller than 12mini/13mini. The 13mini is like 5s, but with notch-screen and no home button

[dijit]

No, its not.

https://imgur.com/a/iphone-mini-vs-iphone-5-vs-iphone-6-case...

[mrheosuper]

Thanks, has been a while since i last hold the 5s, so forgive my mistake.

[AstroBen]

hear me out: a low powered, larger screened iphone!

[stevenhubertron]

When they do release small phones not enough people buy them so they don't see the cost as worth it. Simple market dynamics I assume.

[pertymcpert]

The SE didn't sell well. They want people who not only buy the phone but also buy content through the App Store and through the media services like Apple TV/music.

[trenchpilgrim]

> I'd be curious to understand their rationale for not making a small, reasonably priced phone like the iPhone SE used to be.

People who want cheap iPhones buy older models. You get better specs buying a used or NOS premium model than a new budget model.

[msk-lywenn]

It's my thinking too but Android phones are just as big so I really don't know where to go when I won't be able to fix my iphone SE 2016... Maybe a 13 mini...

[hbn]

The point of the SE line was never to provide a small phone, it was to provide a cheap phone. The first SE reused their manufacturing process from the 5/5s, and the later SEs used the chassis they were using from the 6 to the 8.

[eikenberry]

You won’t find anything smaller in the android ecosystem without sacrificing security. The smallest android phones with good security are the same size as the base iPhone model.

[AstroBen]

One reason might be that they have a minimum duration of software support—a low powered device might hold back future software?

[chucksta]

Generally speaking there are more margins on premium goods