It’s now been over three and a half years since Apple last released a mini version of the iPhone. The iPhone 13 mini was, reportedly, a dead duck on arrival — only going on sale because the disastrous performance of the iPhone 12 mini had registered too late to change course.
So it should perhaps come as no surprise to hear that Apple doesn’t have another mini up its sleeve. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in a live Q&A, Apple has no plans to bring back the iPhone mini in the next few years, much to the dismay of its fans.
Surprising? Not really. The iPhone mini had two generations to perform and — despite reviewing well — it failed to do so. The Plus version has, reportedly, also failed to set the world alight sales-wise, and Apple will be hoping that third time’s the charm with its replacement, the iPhone 17 Air.
But thin is no substitute for small, and the iPhone mini has dedicated fans — I know, because I have one in my family.
Not a surprise, but disappointing
As the resident tech expert in my family, one of my jobs is to help my parents when it comes to phone upgrade time. While grateful for the help, I still remember the — admirably concealed — dismay my father had when his iPhone 7 arrived and was significantly larger than the iPhone 5s he’d had before.
There wasn’t a way this could be avoided: the fashion for phones was just skewing for larger at the time. So when the iPhone 12 mini was announced, I was pleased that I’d be able to get him something more compact. Not only more compact, but with a larger screen too! Once he’d got over the weirdness of Face ID instead of Touch ID he was very pleased with it.
He’s still using it today, albeit with the device’s notoriously weak battery replaced once, and he remains very happy with it. So happy with it that, when the time comes for it to be replaced, I’m not really sure where I’ll go.
Switching to Android is a non-starter, as he’s only ever known iPhones. That makes the obvious choice the iPhone 13 mini, which improves on the battery life significantly and offers a generational upgrade. But it’ll be four to five years old by the time he’s ready, and only pre-owned stock will be available.
In terms of new devices, if I were buying today, it would be a choice between the iPhone 16e and iPhone 16.
Both have 6.1-inch displays, but the 16e is around a milimeter shorter, so it narrowly wins this particular battle.
But, as you can see from Phone Arena’s comparison tool, it would not only tower over the iPhone 12 mini he uses today, but the slightly uncomfortable iPhone 7 that preceded it.
Anecdotally, my father isn’t alone, with plenty of people bemoaning the loss of the mini in subreddits and comment sections around the internet.
I appreciate that the market, broadly, isn’t interested, but following broad trends has a habit of bulldozing niche audiences’ wishes, taking a brand’s biggest fans with it.
Following broad trends has a habit of bulldozing niche audiences’ wishes, taking a brand’s biggest fans with it.
It’s a pity, therefore, that Apple doesn’t have any plans to revive the mini iPhone. The audience for iPhone mini devices may be appropriately diminutive, but it’s an enthusiastic one, and it’s a shame that Apple doesn’t cater to it any more.
With three 6.1-inch devices and two 6.7-inch handsets, others are well looked after, so why can’t mini fans get an upgrade every few years, to give them a viable upgrade path?
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