Can someone provide context as to why this is newsworthy for those of us who don't follow Apple's every move? (I failed trying to rephrase this to sound less sarcastic, but I'm genuinely looking for context here).
this is literally the ONLY modern smartphone at this size. miniaturization has become so costly that no major phone manufacturer is capable of doing it at scale.
Average people just don't want smaller phones. So they are a nice product, and manufactures don't want to take a risk.