Other iPhone Mini future

[badarihp]

[mention]Invertedgoldenfish [/mention] PRO features are power hungry and need big battery capacity. Already regular mini is hard to make to last longer. Mini may come in SE or FLIP form in the future.

 

[snipr125]

It’s good to see the galaxy flip 5 having a lot of attention and being a popular phone for Samsung. Hopefully Apple takes note and releases something similar soon as that would be perfect for those who like the Mini/SE sized iPhones, although I appreciate initially it would be expensive, but with Apples A chips being so powerful now, you could use it for 2-3 years easily before upgrading.

 

[badarihp]

It’s good to see the galaxy flip 5 having a lot of attention and being a popular phone for Samsung. Hopefully Apple takes note and releases something similar soon as that would be perfect for those who like the Mini/SE sized iPhones, although I appreciate initially it would be expensive, but with Apples A chips being so powerful now, you could use it for 2-3 years easily before upgrading.

Apple have filed foldable patents since 2016. They have many designs.

When Will Apple Release a Foldable iPhone?

Apple has been working on a foldable iPhone for multiple years now, and we've been hearing rumors for more than a decade. Information is ramping...

www.macrumors.com

 

[one more]

screen sizes are not correlated with screen activity, how is that any relevant at all?
i doom scroll as much on my mini as well on my ipad

but having to suffer for the past 1.5 years since my launch day 12 mini battery degraded to 80%
and having have to charge mini twice (to 100%) when i'm outdoors makes me no longer want to commit another $1000 for a device that i know won't even last half day outside.

thats the problem question from many mini would-be users, many whom ended up buying the 14 or 14 plus.

slap a 4000mah battery and make the mini twice as thick for all i care and i would say shut up and take my money

There are many possibilities for people disappointed with their mini battery life:

1) top them up frequently;
2) invest into that MagSafe battery thingy;
3) charge it fully overnight with a 5W charger;
4) swap the battery outright to get another two years of decent battery life;
5) buy a larger iPhone, but not necessarily the latest (a regular 13 would be just fine).

My 12 mini has been sitting at 84% battery capacity (Apple) or 90% (Coconut) for the last 15 months or so, and I mostly manage just fine by combining steps 1) and 3) from the list above.

 

[one more]

It’s good to see the galaxy flip 5 having a lot of attention and being a popular phone for Samsung. Hopefully Apple takes note and releases something similar soon as that would be perfect for those who like the Mini/SE sized iPhones, although I appreciate initially it would be expensive, but with Apples A chips being so powerful now, you could use it for 2-3 years easily before upgrading.

Yep, we can expect something North of 1.5K for Apple’s foldable vs mini’s current 599$. This could put quite a few people off.

 

[snipr125]

Yep, we can expect something North of 1.5K for Apple’s foldable vs mini’s current 599$. This could put quite a few people off.

If for example Apple sold their own version of the Galaxy flip 5 for £1000 (same as the current price), i would get it on Amazon UK where it would be like £900 ish after a few months and be happy to pay this. I would then have something smaller than my current 13 mini (although thicker) when folded to check and respond to messages etc, but then open it up to a Pro Max size screen (6.7”) to do heavier tasks. Its just a win win all round for me personally.

 

[ray6088]

My 13 mini got very hot after update. I rarely used it now after using flip 5. Only reason to give up iPhone is lack of physical SIM. I have one foreign SIM and iPhone 14/15 are esim only. I have been Apple loyalty for last 15 years and bought at least two iPhones every year. I may be back to iPhone if they make it right.

 

[one more]

If for example Apple sold their own version of the Galaxy flip 5 for £1000 (same as the current price), i would get it on Amazon UK where it would be like £900 ish after a few months and be happy to pay this. I would then have something smaller than my current 13 mini (although thicker) when folded to check and respond to messages etc, but then open it up to a Pro Max size screen (6.7”) to do heavier tasks. Its just a win win all round for me personally.

My concern is that Apple will want to charge way more than 1K for their foldable, but I agree, it would be interesting to see what they can come up with.

 

[IJBrekke]

Like a lot of Apple products, there’s a decent chance the mini chassis is re-used at some point. The masses associate the smaller size with “cheaper,” which wasn’t true of the 12 and 13 mini. But a repurposed SE-style model would align with public expectation.

The majority of the R&D on the chassis is done, so it’s also in Apple’s best interest to repurpose it to recover cost if it didn’t sell well. I see the chassis of the 11 as the likely next SE model to avoid the OLED screen cost, but after that it’s probably the 12/13 offered in both sizes (Just think: If the mini is offered at $400, Apple can do their sneaky price hike on the regular size SE model)

 

[dchoco]

There are many possibilities for people disappointed with their mini battery life:

1) top them up frequently;
2) invest into that MagSafe battery thingy;
3) charge it fully overnight with a 5W charger;
4) swap the battery outright to get another two years of decent battery life;
5) buy a larger iPhone, but not necessarily the latest (a regular 13 would be just fine).

My 12 mini has been sitting at 84% battery capacity (Apple) or 90% (Coconut) for the last 15 months or so, and I mostly manage just fine by combining steps 1) and 3) from the list above.

i'd rather not do
1)
also if you stick a magsafe battery in a mini, it will likely going to stick there for the whole day.
so might as well just make the magsafe battery <inside> the mini ?

 

[FlyingTexan]

Some people want small phone sizes.
Last time they got a chance to decide, around 5% went small.
Its up to Apple to decide if that's worth having in the portfolio...
(iPhone 12 mini was technically too limited in comparison to the main product line, but they did everything right with the 13 mini).

In all fairness they screwed it up and marketed it poorly. They have it a wide angle lens for foodies and basically treated it like the poor people phone. They should have given it the 2x lens and other pro features.

 

[badarihp]

Like a lot of Apple products, there’s a decent chance the mini chassis is re-used at some point. The masses associate the smaller size with “cheaper,” which wasn’t true of the 12 and 13 mini. But a repurposed SE-style model would align with public expectation.

The majority of the R&D on the chassis is done, so it’s also in Apple’s best interest to repurpose it to recover cost if it didn’t sell well. I see the chassis of the 11 as the likely next SE model to avoid the OLED screen cost, but after that it’s probably the 12/13 offered in both sizes (Just think: If the mini is offered at $400, Apple can do their sneaky price hike on the regular size SE model)

Great! Apple then might use that invested chassis design of iPhone mini at the right time in the future depending on market situation.

 

[Mikeske]

I actually see no future for the mini. Consumers have spoken and it was by rather poor sales compared to the larger sizes.

 

[blairh]

My hope is Apple keeps the Mini in the lineup, rebrands it as simply ‘Mini’ with no numbers, and just updates it every 3 years.

 

[badarihp]

My hope is Apple keeps the Mini in the lineup, rebrands it as simply ‘Mini’ with no numbers, and just updates it every 3 years.

Yeah, just like SE model. Good thinking.

 

[1rottenapple]

There are tons of videos on YouTube of owners switching from iPhone 14 PRO back to iPhone 13 mini. This shows the demand for mini. But the pricing factor was an issue with iPhone mini which costed $700 compared to iPhone SE $429

Lol omg again with this nonsense. Yah YouTubers looking for clicks and advertising represent the majority. Oh they also have disposable income too. You should apply for budlights marketing team.

 

[badarihp]

Lol omg again with this nonsense. Yah YouTubers looking for clicks and advertising represent the majority. You should apply for budlights marketing team.

They are small screen fans pressing on mini variant. Pro max and plus are huge sixes.

 

[snipr125]

My hope is Apple keeps the Mini in the lineup, rebrands it as simply ‘Mini’ with no numbers, and just updates it every 3 years.

Yes this just like the iPad Mini, with each version referred to as 5th gen or 6th gen etc with production held back based on demand. This way the consumers who like small phones have an option and Apple makes a profit. Win win for both.

 

[badarihp]

iPhone timeline (1-5 models were 4” inch screens, only 1 model per year)
Years between launches of SE & Plus models, to get an idea if mini has a chance in the future.

iPhone SE
iPhone SE 1 2016.
iPhone SE 2 2020.
iPhone SE 3 2022.

iPhone Plus
iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus 2014.
iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus 2015.
iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus 2016.
iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus. 2017.

Full screen iPhones (Plus became Max)
iPhone X Sept 2017
iPhone XR (SE of X) Oct 2017
iPhone X, Max 2018

iPhone Pro
iPhone 11, Pro, Pro Max 2019

iPhone Mini, Pro
iPhone 12, Mini, Pro, Pro Max 2020
iPhone 13, Mini, Pro, Pro Max 2021
iPhone 14, Pro, Pro Max Sept 2022

iPhone 14 Plus (back after 5yrs) Oct 2022

iPhone Mini’s pricing was high compared to SE due to the technology during that time.

This technology will become old & cheap for Apple in the future, so that they can launch mini for less than $600

iPhone mini size with other models :

 

[one more]

iPhone timeline (1-5 models were only 2 models)
Years between launches of SE & Plus models, to get an idea if mini has a chance in the future.

iPhone SE
iPhone SE 1 2016.
iPhone SE 2 2020.
iPhone SE 3 2022.

iPhone Plus
iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus 2014.
iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus 2015.
iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus 2016.
iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus. 2017.

Full screen iPhones (Plus became Max)
iPhone X Sept 2017
iPhone XR (SE of X) Oct 2017
iPhone X, Max 2018

iPhone Pro
iPhone 11, Pro, Pro Max 2019

iPhone Mini, Pro
iPhone 12, Mini, Pro, Pro Max 2020
iPhone 13, Mini, Pro, Pro Max 2021
iPhone 14, Pro, Pro Max Sept 2022

iPhone 14 Plus (back after 5yrs) Oct 2022

iPhone Mini’s pricing was high compared to SE due to the technology during that time.

This technology will become old & cheap for Apple in the future, so that they can launch mini for less than $600

iPhone mini size with other models :

Thank you for the great comparative diagram at the very end, I have just realised that iPhone 12-13-14 is actually just a few mm taller than iPhone 11 Pro! This is good news.

 

[badarihp]

Thank you for the great comparative diagram at the very end, I have just realised that iPhone 12-13-14 is actually just a few mm taller than iPhone 11 Pro! This is good news.

Let us know what good news it brings?

 

[one more]

Let us know what good news it brings?

I was personally hoping that one day Apple might bring back a 5.8” screen models, with iPhone 11 Pro being the last example. My mistake was thinking that regular iPhone 12-13-14 were as big as iPhone 11, but your drawing illustrated very well that they are actually much closer in size to that 5.8” iPhone 11 Pro. Literally, there is just a few mm difference. So provided iPhone 15 does not go larger than 12–14, it might actually fit all my needs rather well.

 

[nStyle]

Wasn’t due to bad battery - the 13 Mini improved on that in a big way.

People just want bigger screens.

I’d love to see an updated Mini with DI and 120hz but highly unlikely.

 

[badarihp]

I was personally hoping that one day Apple might bring back a 5.8” screen models, with iPhone 11 Pro being the last example. My mistake was thinking that regular iPhone 12-13-14 were as big as iPhone 11, but your drawing illustrated very well that they are actually much closer in size to that 5.8” iPhone 11 Pro. Literally, there is just a few mm difference. So provided iPhone 15 does not go larger than 12–14, it might actually fit all my needs rather well.

More detailed iPhone screen sizes & resolution :

The complete guide to iPhone screen resolutions and sizes (Updated 2025) - AppMySite

Understanding screen sizes, resolutions, etc., is important for making the best design & development decisions. Go through our guide to know more.

www.appmysite.com

iPhone mini resolution stands next to iPhone 11 Pro. High enough for that screen size!

 

[snipr125]

Just wanted to point out that the 5.5” screen on the 6, 6s, 7 and 8 Plus are fairly larger than the 5.4” screen on the minis due to width and no notch despite it being seemingly only 0.1” difference on paper. Its actually about the same as the 6.1” screens