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I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

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Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#231

Post by Daz1 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #220
protocolture wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You don't see pants coming in one size with the advice "wear a belt". Great example. Because people who are shorter than average tend to have to get pants taken up, and people who are vastly taller than average tend to go to specialty stores. The average height of pants is largely dictated by what the market will permit, requiring people to make adjustments or leave the market. Having a 2d matrix of height and width…

> Technology is worse, anything that requires tooling is done the least number of times possible. While small phone enjoyers are disadvantaged, they arent disadvantaged enough to force them out of the market. Larger tooling is easier to make and caters to all other preferences. No, you're making up a claim that you know perfectly well is false. Just blank most of your day out of your mind, and then... what? Why? You…

Phones come in dozens of different sizes too, what are you on about? TVs come in a greater range of sizes because they're designed for different viewing distances and room configurations. Phones don't have this variable, you hold them in your hand.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#232

Post by const_cast »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #168
const_cast wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For... well, most people. Half of people are women, so I don't know how they do it. I'm a man, with man hands, and modern phones are not one hand operable. You need two hands. Even if you can do a particular operation with one hand, the phone is unsteady and it's awkward. I think people with large hands are definitely the minority. So, we're not optimizing for hand size. We're optimizing for engagement, I think.

It was observed a long time ago on HN that women, with their tiny hands, loved huge phones - since they were using small phones two-handed anyway - and it was the men who complained that small, one-handed phones stopped being sold.

Depends on how you define small. I we're talking back in the era of 3 inch screens, I doubt this.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#233

Post by Nursie »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #225
Nursie wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What's going on? You're in a minority, it's not profitable to cater to you, and most people don't care. That's the cold hard truth of it.

You seem to have ignored the part of my comment pointing out that the dynamic you describe doesn't occur in any other market. Perhaps... just perhaps... the explanation lies elsewhere? I should have included some kind of question as to what it might be.

I don't think it's meaningful. There are not enough people who would buy such a device to make it profitable to design and manufacture. Your priors -

"You have ... people who want them to fit in your hand"

Are incorrect. The number of people who will actually buy small devices is ... small. The number of people who are so interested in small devices they'll overlook things like a lower battery life and whatever other compromises are needed to achieve the smaller size, likely even fewer.

It's not like it hasn't been tried in the past, people in this thread talk about iPhone minis disappearing - Apple couldn't make them a success. Sony couldn't make them a success either and stopped making them AFAICT. As a market segment you're too small to warrant the investment in designing a small flagship. And if nobody's investing in a small flagship, small midmarket isn't going to happen either.

There do appear to be niche manufacturers in this segment (take a look at https://www.reddit.com/r/smallphones/). If the untapped demand is so huge, I would expect to see them become much more mainstream over time.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#234

Post by ako »

Nursie wrote: post #218
wyre wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The general population wants larger phones because they are addicted to their screens.

I want larger phones because I am at that particular stage of middle age where I should probably start using reading glasses, but I'm also damned if I'm going to start carrying reading glasses everywhere with me. Larger screen = easier life.

I’m even older, walking around with reading glasses on my head all day. Had an iPhone 13 mini, miss the form factor, would prefer a mini as my next phone. But for most mobile use, on the couch, watching videos, etc, I use an iPad, not my phone. For me a large phone is mostly a tablet that’s too small.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#235

Post by O-stevns »

I got the iPhone 13 mini as a work phone for the sole reason of it being the smallest iPhone at the time. I too dislike the phone landscape nowadays with their ridiculous and ever increasing sizes.

My personal device is a Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, which I got because while it's huge when flipped, it's portable enough when it's closed. I can have it in my pocket without it falling out.. without it being annoying while i put on shoes etc...

I use its cover screen a fair amount too, to avoid having to flip it open, which is also why I got the ultra rather than the slightly smaller version.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#236

Post by vidyesh »

GarnetFloride wrote: post #178
pclowes wrote: post #8

My cynical take is that small phones don't exist because they are not the product. Similar to vape pens the product is the addictive substance the device loads. In this case its apps and ads. A smaller screen probably negatively impacts KPIs on many levels, at Google/Apple/Meta/X and on down through the ecosystem. I understand that Apple did not make enough money to make it worth their while to continue the iphone mi…

What was so odd was how Apple fumbled the iPhone mini launch by launching the iPhone SE first. At that point there hadn't been a small phone for a few years, There was pent up demand. The SE came out and it was a big success, lots of people wanted ti because it was a small phone. Then few months later they launched the mini expecting it to sell even more or something. Somehow they missed that everyone that wanted a s…

Your theory makes sense until it falls apart if you consider SE and Mini as the same category of small iPhones. If the only reason why Mini failed was bad launch time, then why haven't Apple launched anything small (SE or Mini) after 2022? Isn't 2024 or even 2025 the perfect time to launch an upgrade for SE or Mini? They now have enough data since the last launch of a small phone.

iPhone SE 1st gen 2016 (Discontinued 2018)

iPhone 12 Mini 2020 (Discontinued 2022)

iPhone SE 2nd gen 2020 (Discontinued 2022)

iPhone 13 Mini 2021 (Discontinued 2023)

iPhone SE 3rd gen 2022 (Discontinued 2025)

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#237

Post by dontlaugh »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #162
makeitdouble wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parent's take is not whether bigger phones shouldn't exist, it's why smaller phones stopped being produced, which is a fairly different angle. > women To note, the initial smartphones were already too big for he taste of many: a clamshell feature phone was almost a third of the size of the original iPhone. From that POV, going to a phone that is twice as big is less of a barrier, as they had to keep it in a bag/purse…

Just tonight, I saw a friend of mine, pull a new foldable Razr from her purse. They are cool phones, but I do iOS. I still use a 13 Mini, and will continue to do so, for quite some time. As to the point of this article, I seem to recall a couple of very small Android phones, some years ago (about credit-card sized). I guess they didn’t sell well.

I do wish Apple would make one. The Samsung Z Flip almost follows the Apple design language, if only it ran iOS.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#238

Post by oc1 »

rtpg wrote: post #48
hammyhavoc wrote: post #2

With a battery that can be swapped rapidly without tools. Bonus points for pogo pins like a Samsung XCover phone. Smaller size means smaller battery, but that's mitigated by the above. I want utilitarian. I don't want a phablet. I want practical and unobtrusive. The smartwatch was meant to replace the phone, but doesn't hit the right notes for me.

I've come around on swapping batteries, and have decided that external battery packs are the way to go. Works on more devices, and you're not buying batteries that work on exactly one device. Still want my phone battery to be replaceable, but I'm pretty fine with not being able to do it myself.

just get a larger phone and you don't have to carry bulky battery packs.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#239

Post by dontlaugh »

abujazar wrote: post #10
pclowes wrote: post #8

My cynical take is that small phones don't exist because they are not the product. Similar to vape pens the product is the addictive substance the device loads. In this case its apps and ads. A smaller screen probably negatively impacts KPIs on many levels, at Google/Apple/Meta/X and on down through the ecosystem. I understand that Apple did not make enough money to make it worth their while to continue the iphone mi…

Agreed. I'd prefer a modern iPhone the size of an iPhone 4, it was perfegt. I made the same "upgrade" from 12 mini to 16 Pro, and the 16 Pro is so large and heavy. Feels like we're moving backwards in time.

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Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#240

Post by dontlaugh »

walterbell wrote: post #38
abujazar wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I'd prefer a modern iPhone the size of an iPhone 4, it was perfegt. I made the same "upgrade" from 12 mini to 16 Pro, and the 16 Pro is so large and heavy. Feels like we're moving backwards in time.

2026 iPhone Fold is rumored iPhone Mini size unfolding to iPad Mini size. https://9to5mac.com/2025/04/28/iphone-18-fold-details-launch...

I hope they instead (or also) make a flip version opening up to at most the size of a regular iPhone.
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