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Comment by suyash | Hacker News Reader

Believe it or not the 'mini' used to the the standard smartphone size. As it goes in America, bigger = better so that is what you get.

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As it goes in America, bigger = better so that is what you get.

The bigger phone trend actually started in Korea, and spread to China. It was several years before large phones came to the United States.

Remember the Samsung Note. My first big smartphone was the Samsung.

also don't forget the ugly Android phablets

When I saw Dell Streak initially, I astonished how it big, but now it's just small.

I believe the trend is more about people using their phones as their main computing device so a bigger screen is desirable to many. I'm still on the original iPhone SE but the battery is definitely on it's last legs.

FWIW, I just got an original SE new in the box for around $130 a few months ago after my last one went for a swim, and it came with 96% of the original battery capacity as reported by iOS.

My goal was for it to just last me until the 12 came out, but I'm still on the fence about whether the better camera (and water resistance...) are worth the additional bulk.

I used an original SE until my current XS. I didn’t want a larger screen, necessarily, but UIs started making buttons smaller and it became harder and harder to use. My Airpods also work better with the XS, and I assume it is because the smaller size has antenna limitations (although I know nothing about the subject).

It only costs about $50 USD for a battery replacement from an authorized Apple service provider. If you're satisfied with the device otherwise, a new battery will keep it going for far cheaper than a new device.

Several years and lots of whining about wanting bigger screens. Still wish there was something the size of the original SE.

From the market research I've seen, Americans were actually reasonably happy with the old phone sizes - the move towards larger phones was driven more by international (particularly Asian) consumers.

Part of this is because a smartphone is a "primary computing device" in those countries, whereas Americans tended to have tablets, laptops and TVs as well.

The bigger phones came from Asia first (not Japan, that's where tiny is better)

Believe it or not there was a real reason for bigger phones. They realized that most people still couldn't single handle the standard size smartphone, so if the majority of the population was going to have to use two hands the phone makers may as well jack the size up as much as possible to take advantage of the larger battery size and additional features.

There is obviously a market for big phones, though it was always odd to me that Apple went from a normal sized (now small) phone to big and even bigger.

There are obviously various profit motivations. Bigger phones are easier to throw more tech in since you're less constrained by physical size while also making the devices thinner. There was also no risk of losing market share since nobody makes smaller phones anymore. And lastly, most people still bought the product that was available.

I am excited to see this return to a smaller form factor. I hope we can get a Pro model eventually and decouple budget and size.

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