I have an iPhone 13 mini, the last <5" flagship phone you can buy. I'm not particularly tied to the iPhone ecosystem, but when this dies, I don't know what I'm going to do.
I get why it's useful to some. But I have to imagine we've crossed the point where "better camera" stopped being noticeable to the masses?
Everything might look good in the camera app preview, but it's really noticeable when you go back and look at your old photos. You see a lot of things you wish were captured better. That's from just a year or two ago.
I'm sure there are people who say they don't care about their photos having room for improvement, and sometimes you want better and can't afford it, but that's not quite the same.
I went from iPhone 4 -> 7 -> 11 -> 13. I upgraded on a shorter cycle from 11 to 13 so I could pass down my 11 to my kids. In each instance, the image quality has improved tremendously.
Going from 4 to 7 was a massive jump in terms of resolution. Going from 7 to 11 was a boost in color and clarity, despite being nearly the same MP. Going from 11 to 13 was a huge improvement in night mode and shooting speeds. Also, these are non-PRO phones, as I cannot afford the PRO ones. I imagine the improvement in the PRO iPhone cameras are nicer.
Every iteration has been an improvement to me, and obviated the need for a DSLR in every day use.
I am no photography expert but if you skip 3-4 generations of iPhone you are guaranteed a very substantial upgrade every time. The improvements are visible and obvious.
A very small minority of Americans buy pizza in Columbus, Ohio. That doesn't mean there aren't any pizza sellers there.
There is only so much variation to the size of people’s hands. The mini makes a big battery life and visibility sacrifice to save space.
It’s not much different to the reasons why two-door sports cars have fallen out of favor. They can only do one thing well.
Phones have to do so much for the typical person, they’re not just basic communication devices, and having one that can’t do everything all day is a big compromise.
I had a 12 mini and 13 mini and I can understand why they were discontinued. I loved them at first, but the trade off ultimately doesn’t make sense. I bet you there were very few repeat customers.
I have small fingers and it was hard to type on. Looking at the screen was straining, and it would be worse if I was older or had worse eyesight. The battery life got a little better for the 13 mini but I got range anxiety and had to charge before the day ended almost every day.
Re:iPhone SE, the newest one was announced March 2022, a refresh from the 2020 predecessor, so I think you should consider them an active product line with slower refresh cycle fitting a lower-price device.
I'm not sure where you got this impression, they've supported fast charging since the iPhone 8 in 2017, which could do 50% of the battery in 30 mins, with the appropriate charger. Now which fast charging spec is a different question.
At this point I’d go back to iPhone 8 form factor if it gets an upgrade, but I’m on a 12 mini and it’s not a big step up
I'm a "power user", and I want a powerful device when I'm away from my laptop/desktop. Currently using the Samsung Fold 4, and loving it.
Context: I'm not particularly interested in switching to Apple's phone ecosystem, but their watches seem to be superior to Android's and I am slightly interested in getting one of them.