iPhone 13 mini — what the heck is the point?

iPhone 12 mini was neat but not a great seller

(Paradigm credit: Tom's Guide)

In that location was a time betwixt the late 1990s and early 2000s where the tech globe was obsessed with making things smaller notwithstanding more capable. MP3 players, notably the iPod, were good examples of this. But when smartphones arrived information technology wasn't likewise long before sizes started to go the other direction.

My start smartphone was the iPhone 4s with its dinky 3.5-inch display. Now I can't call up a fourth dimension when I've used a phone that had a display size smaller than half dozen inches… terminate sniggering at the back. But despite this, Apple decided to come out with the iPhone 12 mini last twelvemonth.

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While lauded for its neat design, solid capabilities, and for beingness more inclusive for people with smaller hands, the iPhone 12 mini didn't sell well. Despite this, the rumors effectually the iPhone 13 so far suggest there will be another version of the mini when the new phone range supposedly arrives in the fall. And this is a bit baffling to me for a couple of reasons.

Why bother with an iPhone thirteen mini?

iPhone 12 vs iPhone 13 dummy — (Image credit: Apple Insider)

A new report has claimed that come up 2022 there will be no smaller flagship Phone, with the so-called iPhone 14 coming in 6.1- and 6.vii-inch sizes. For people afterwards a smaller Apple tree phone an updated iPhone SE will exist released complete with 5G capabilities.

And so with this in listen, I'm slightly miffed as to why Apple might wait until the iPhone xiv to cut the mini model from its phone lineup; why not but start with the iPhone 13?

I've said earlier that complication in phone line-ups is somewhat frustrating, as information technology's tricky to find that one product to buy or recommend. And I'm already concerned that Apple might create a fork in the iPhone 13 range by reserving 120Hz LTPO displays for simply the Pro handsets.

Then I'd much rather see Apple kill the supposed iPhone thirteen mini and employ potential manufacturing savings or resources to make the standard iPhone 13 the very best it tin can be.

Equally, Apple tree has reportedly stopped making iPhone 12 mini models, which indicates there'southward not a lot of demand for it and Apple has no plans to go on that particular telephone around past the fall, as it has with the still-available iPhone 11. While the coronavirus pandemic hasn't seen me get out and about a lot over the past xviii months, I don't think I've seen anyone utilise an iPhone 12 mini. So again, I'd wonder why Apple would keep it going for another generation.

Perhaps the folks at Cupertino want ane more than bite at the compact phone cherry and don't want to shutter a product that'southward merely been alive for a single generation. That might look like admitting defeat, which isn't something that fits Apple's external vibe.

Perhaps come up the second half of 2022, Apple tree might have taken the alleged iPhone 13 mini out round the back of One Infinite Loop and quietly dispatch it with a metaphorical shot to the back of the head. So when it's time for the iPhone 14 reveal, there'll be no mention of a smaller fourth handset, with Apple simply non acknowledging it ever existed, as if the mini were a mass hallucination of modest-handed Apple tree fans.

Move over mini, it'southward all about the iPhone SE three

iPhone SE 3 concept — (Epitome credit: Apple Lab)

Now I applaud Apple for making a phone that's easier for people with smaller hands to use. Merely if it'south not sold that well, then information technology doesn't look like at that place'south that much of a demand for a smaller iPhone.

Yet for people who desire a smaller iPhone, at that place's the iPhone SE, a stellar piffling phone in an affordable package. Granted its design is hardly cutting edge, but its specs and single camera performance are rather impressive for a $399 phone even a twelvemonth after its release.

And more pertinently, a 5G-ready iPhone SE 3 is supposedly due to arrive early 2022. It'south set to get an improved chipset, either in the form of the A14 Bionic or rumored A15 chip that's slated for this fall'due south iPhone 13 lineup. (That would be in keeping with Apple'southward iPhone SE tradition of equipping the phone with the most recent chip to ability its flagship devices.) Such a telephone could return the expected iPhone 13 mini a little moot, particularly if the side by side mini doesn't go a lot of the upgrades the iPhone 13 Pro is expected to sport.

In brusque, the reply to the question I asked at the showtime, is there doesn't seem to be much of a point to the iPhone thirteen mini other than a way for Apple to relieve face.

In fact, I'd not be surprised to come across Apple tree release the iPhone 13 without a mini model, with these rumors nearly its existence proving to be off the mark. With the iPhone xiii range tipped to be revealed in September, at that place's not long to look to see what rumors come to fruition and which have been left to wither and die on the hearsay tree.

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Roland Moore-Colyer is U.Chiliad. Editor at Tom's Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he's also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be plant wandering around London, often with a look of marvel on his face up.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/iphone-13-mini-what-the-heck-is-the-point

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iPhone 13 mini — what the heck is the point?