Last chance to grab an iPhone Mini as savvy analyst reckons Apple will scrap it next year
- Reference: 1618493585
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/04/15/apple_iphone_mini_discontinued/
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The warning came from [1]Ming-Chi Kuo , a financial analyst with a track record for correctly predicting Apple's product roadmap. Per his sources, Apple plans to launch four handsets in 2022: two each with 6.1 inches of screen real estate, and a further two measuring 6.7 inches.
[2]
The iPhone Mini, with its diminutive 5.4-inch display, was conspicuously absent from his research notes. But this might not be much of a surprise. Although Apple hasn't offered a model-by-model sales breakdown of the iPhone 12, it is believed that consumer appetite for the smaller iPhone 12 Mini was tepid at best. We've asked analysts to share shipment data.
In the busy post-launch period, the Mini accounted for [3]just 6 per cent of iPhone device sales, according to a report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. The company was also believed to have slashed production for the first half of this year, according to [4]supply chain leaks to Nikkei .
[5]
This failure may seem paradoxical, considering the iPhone 12 Mini is the company's cheapest 5G phone, and the second-cheapest phone it released during 2020 (trailing the iPhone SE). Additionally, it runs the same processor as the mainstream iPhone 12, meaning it performs exactly the same, despite the smaller form-factor.
It's entirely possible that Apple misjudged the appetite for smaller phones. Given the growing trend for larger displays, the iPhone 12 Mini was a bit of an aberration and not particularly well placed for long stretches of gaming and Netflix watching. Similarly, its smaller 2,227mAh battery wasn't quite up to snuff, especially when compared to its bigger (and longer-lasting) rivals.
Ben Stanton, senior tech analyst at Canalys, told The Register : "iPhone 12 Mini had a strange sales cycle. It saw very high pre-orders at launch from the world's major distributors, retailers and carriers, in anticipation of a wave of customer demand. But this wave never came, and as a result, channel orders fell significantly in the following months, as inventory struggled to sell through.
"In addition, one area which had high-hopes for iPhone 12 Mini was the B2B space, but many businesses have instead gravitated to the cheaper iPhone 11 over the 12 Mini for commercial use. It would seem that a larger display and cheaper price has trumped the inclusion of 5G. I would say that the majority of my channel contacts are telling me iPhone 12 Mini shipped fewer units than their initial expectation."
Apple is expected to release one final iPhone Mini device, the iPhone Mini 13, according to Ming-Chi's sources. Apple may try to differentiate it further from the pack to drum up sales beyond the first model.
And beyond that point, it wouldn't be surprising to see Apple continue to sell the iPhone 12 (and possibly 13) Mini even after it abandons future generations of the form factor.
[6]
In addition to its annual refreshes, Apple has a tendency to keep older models in stock as an affordable option, and to this day continues to sell the iPhone 11 and iPhone XR, albeit at a significant discount to its original price. ®
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[1] https://www.macrumors.com/2021/04/14/kuo-no-new-iphone-mini-in-2022/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YHhjHKsH9YSBYwo9PXKYYwAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/05/iphone-12-mini-sales-disappointed/
[4] https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Apple-slashes-planned-iPhone-12-mini-production-for-1H
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YHhjHKsH9YSBYwo9PXKYYwAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YHhjHKsH9YSBYwo9PXKYYwAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: The pandemic didn't help the sales of small phones.
When my work phone was up for renewal this year, I opted for a 12 Mini for the very reason you're mentioning. I felt my 8 was juuust too big to comfortably navigate with one hand, but in all honesty the 12 Mini isn't that much smaller - especially considering the proportionally larger screen. It'd be a shame if they were to drop it from the line.
Re: The pandemic didn't help the sales of small phones.
Both my personal and work phones are both 6S, which I'm pretty sure won't make the cut for the next iOS update. As part of a rolling programme the work phones are due to be replaces by the SE (2nd gen 2020).
I'm quite happy with the form factor of my 6S and I *really* don't need some phablet/handbag phone type thing. But I'm still trying to decide to go for the SE or the 12 mini. Maybe I should just wait until later this year see if there's a suitably sized new handset or not (when I can pick up a 12 mini on the cheap).
The only reason I didn’t buy a Mini this year is because the new iPhones still don’t have TouchID reinstated. If they could reinstate that on the power button, like iPad, and keep FaceID then I’d be down the Apple Store faster than you can say ‘Make me poorer’.
I regret I can only upvote you once.
FaceID has been a complete pain during the last umpteen months of mask wearing!
It's not a phone...
It's a miniaturised computer that's hooked up to a network and can be used to make voice-only calls via a legacy system.
And for all that there's a significant vocal minority who are perfectly happy with just using this miniaturised computer to make voice-only calls via the legacy system, the vast majority want to use it for many other things.
Such as typing and viewing social media. Taking, viewing and editing photographs. Watching videos and/or having video calls. Etc.
And all of the above benefit from a larger screen.
Anecdotally, I used the earliest smartphones, starting with things like the Nokia 5300 and the LG Cookie. And these days, I routinely use three devices:
a) An 2016 iPhone SE, which replaced an iPod Classic, for the simple reason that it was cheaper than buying an equivalently specc'd iPod Touch, and the last iPhone model which has a headphone jack
b) A Samsung S21+, which is my main handset
c) A Chuwi Hi12 tablet, which I generally use to read PDFs of ancient computer magazines ;)
And for all that the iPhone SE is perfectly functional, it's rare indeed that I do anything with it other than use it as a music player; typing in particular is incredibly fiddly!
Admittedly, I don't think standard handsets are likely to get any bigger - I'm a tall bloke with fairly big hands, and the S21+ is right at the very limit of what I can comfortably use, and would be a nightmare to carry around if I wasn't a fan of many-pocketed work trousers.
But at the same time, the era of small smartphones is pretty much over. Because the size of the screen is a definite factor in how useful they are!
I maintain that there is a market for small smartphones, most notably in the <£100 category (i.e. not iPhone price).
It's really advantageous to be able to use a phone with one hand, and, everything else being equal, smaller phones are less fragile, take up less pocket space and are lighter. You could have a well-specced phone - nice camera, fast processor, high DPI display, large memory - without a massive screen.
Could you imagine going back twenty years and telling people that in the future you'd need two hands to operate a mobile phone? They'd think you were mad!
Not everyone wants watch Netflix on their phone, personally I couldn't think of anything worse. The only video I watch on my phone is the odd Twitter clip and even then I take little pleasure in it.
Big phone == what?
"Could you imagine going back twenty years and telling people that in the future you'd need two hands to operate a mobile phone?"
Twenty years ago I was asked point-blank "Why is your phone so big?"... Uhm, because it's old and I'm too cheap to upgrade to a smaller phone! But I remember reading in PC Magazine that women judged men poorly for having a large phone. Also a belt clip.
Times have changed about the phone size. But not about the belt clip.
Small market for small phones
Apple doesn't need to make both the SE and the Mini. People like me who want a small phone mostly choose the SE because it is slightly smaller. I think the Mini came out when they were in between SE models and maybe were not sure they would even do another SE. Discontinuing the Mini makes sense if they are going to keep making an SE. If in the future the smallest available iphone is any bigger than the current Mini, it will be time to switch to Android. I hope Apple knows this about their customers.
The pandemic didn't help the sales of small phones.
I planned to get one because I hate carrying large phones around, but as I could not leave my home much I didn't really need a new phone.