Did the iPhone 13 Mini's death signal the end of practical phone design?
Apple dropping the iPhone 13 Mini feels like a signal for where the whole smartphone market is heading. Here was a compact, powerful, actually pocketable device that met a real need—and now it’s gone. Apple, as usual, leads trends, and if even they’re scrapping practical-sized phones, it’s a clear sign: the industry is now chasing bigger screens, “better” cameras, and more features that are easier to market as upgrades over the old, even if they barely improve the day-to-day experience.
Are we disconnected from reality here? Phones have hit a physical innovation plateau; there’s only so much screen and camera improvement you can pack in. And yet, I find myself scrambling to buy another iPhone 13 Mini simply because there’s no longer a real market for compact, user-friendly phones.
Is this really about demand, or are companies just steering us toward a profitable cycle of “bigger is better”? Is anyone else frustrated by this push to lock us into constant, unnecessary upgrades?
Only at Apple.
Huawei Mate XT tri-fold phone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv_S7KrOlfk
> Are we disconnected from reality here?
Yes, Apple has been blind to the actual humans using their products for some time now. Apple's fandom would probably quote statistics about demand while failing to realise that normal people don't want to buy a new phone unless they have to.
Riding the hype and focus groups can only do so much. So everyone is getting suboptimal AI now, instead of say longer battery life.
The 13 Mini wasn’t as practical as the 13 Pro to me. I thought it was, but after using both, I thought the Pro had a better form factor and much better battery life.
Perhaps the Mini design wasn’t practical enough to enough people?
In the end, the mini was killed because it didn’t sell well. As much as I personally liked the size, if no one else is buying them I can’t exactly fault Apple too much for the decision they made.
The problem with the mini wasn’t the size of the phone I suspect, but the size of the battery. Even if a customer liked the size, they may not have been willing to take a significant battery life tradeoff for it.
I upgraded my iPhone 12 mini to a 13 mini the day the 13 mini was discontinued. My plan was to use it for as long as humanly possible. However, since it was already a couple years old when I got it, the battery and hardware limitations (most ram) started to become a problem within the first year. I ended up getting a 16 Pro a few weeks ago.
I’d love a phone the size of the mini, but a Pro model with triple cameras. I would be perfectly fine with them making it thicker to accommodate the extra hardware and a comparable battery. I think I’d actually prefer this, as a thicker phone would mean they could eliminate the camera bump, or at least shrink it.
I don’t think my wishes will ever come true. Personally, I’d even go smaller than the mini. I think they got the size right the first time. I would be happy keeping it the same size and moving to an all-screen design. But I’m an oddity these days, as I still think the computer should be the center hub, and the phone a utility device for on the go. The overall market has moved to mobile-first, where the phone isn’t just the center hub, its many people’s only device.
I have two iPhone 13 Minis and I'm just going to keep buying them on Facebook Marketplace as needed. Hopefully Apple has usage retention data :)
I like the mini size but usability on mobile sites is often broken. I eventually switched to a full size phone because many sites completely break on a smaller than standard screen.
Could you name one of those sites? I have a 13 mini and have never had usability “broken” on it.
A lot of the crappy food sites at restaurants cut off the buttons such that they disappear below the keyboard and can’t click the button. I haven’t used my iPhone mini in a year or 2 so I can’t relive the names of the sites
Is this really about demand
Probably not. My guess is it is about money and that the Mini was in part a result of fabrication yields for screens and PCB's and how many widgets fit in a standard shipping crate. Manufacturing and logistics...that's why Cooke is in charge.
Apple also has metrics on how Mini users participate in the rest of its ecosystem. Where do they sit in the space of app store revenue? Other device sales? The upgrade pipeline?
Finally, how likely are they to leave the Apple ecosystem over phone size? I mean anyone can buy a small Android phone if size is a priority. Apple makes excellent products but it is not an actual person. It is incapable of loving. Good luck.