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Comment by Fredej | Hacker News Reader

The iPhone 4 had a 3.5" screen but was 5" in physical size. iPhone 12 mini is 5.4" screen with ~5.7" physical size. So a bit larger, but not by that much.

I assumed that the real issue was not the screen size but rather the physical size of the device (which is obviously tied to the screen size).

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No, the screen size, regardless of the size of the entire device, is important because that's what its usability depends on. The bigger the screen the more area for you to reach when you use it with one hand. My previous phone was a Pixel 1, it had a 5" screen with large bezels on top and bottom. My current one is a Pixel 4a that has the screen cover as much of the front as technically possible. It's sometimes harder to reach the navigation bar at the bottom and the status bar at the top because they're physically in places where the Pixel 1 had bezels. (the two phones have exactly the same physical dimensions btw)

Yeah, even in the same physical size a larger screen is not strictly better. It's mostly better, but my thumb has not gotten longer just because the screen is bigger and things which I used to be able to reach with it are now out of reach.

Simple thing: phones are getting larger, but people remain the same size.

Some phones come with a "single handed mode" where the entire contents of the screen shrink to a window in the corner. So they are recognizing that large screens are a problem. That's great. Now I wish I could take a saw to this thing and get rid of the dead space around that window.

Sadly, the number of people who want 3.5" screens is very small these days. I suspect the die was cast when Asian women (despite stereotypically having more petite hands) voted with their wallets for large (5", 6"+) phones.

Smaller phones sell less well, this is borne out by sales figures across geographies and brands, to the point where even the iPhone mini is 5.2" -- it would considered humongous back in 2007.

So yes, while I sympathize (and I have small hands myself), I think it's a losing battle, like CD vs MP3. Personally I've just adapted to the iPhone 11 size.

Asian women somehow like huge phones for some reason.. I've seem some that were literally small tablets (think 7-8" without folding) and they were always carried by Asian women when I saw them. Maybe this is coincidence. But I've never actually seen these phone models on the market in Europe so I don't think so.

Personally I don't like phones too small, for me the Samsung S-series (5.8" with bezels e.g. S8, 6.2" without bezels e.g. S21) is perfect for me. I have a OnePlus 8 now which is S8+ sized and that's too big for sure. It's not even the one-handed use, it's just clamping it in my hand, it's just too wide for comfort. Especially with a case on it.

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