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Comment by ivanjermakov | Hacker News Reader

It's sad that "ultraportable iPad" marketing works, but "ultraportable iPhone" does not make sense for most people.

iPhone 13 mini was the last flagship smartphone with such dimensions.

The typical iPhone Mini product cycle:

Make iPhone Mini -> Mini only accounts for 10% of sales -> Cancel iPhone Mini -> Notice that 10% of iPhone customers haven't updated for 3 or 4 cycles -> Make iPhone Mini -> Suffer crippling corporate amnesia -> <...>

I'm expecting the brain worms to reach step 4 of the corporate consciousness cycle around the next generation or so.

only the 12 and 13 had mini sizes, so not really. unless you are counting the SE1 as mini

Dimensions:

SE1: 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6

Mini 13: 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.65

Counting the original SE as a mini is perfectly reasonable.

It's also quite clearly what the grandparent comment was referring to.

In that case the first six years of iPhone models were also minis. None were cancelled due to low sales. The original SE was also not cancelled due to low sales, it continued to sell extremely well for years after its release. Apart from the 12/13 minis, the only model that had low sales was the 5C, which is actually a little larger than the 5S.

The rule for the SE is that it always has the design of second most recent hardware design, regardless of size.

If Apple re-introduces a mini, that will be the first such 'cycle.'

I wonder if that was their attempt to make the iPhone SE have a legitimate place with the other iPhones? Not sure, but it is interesting that no matter what, they always sell the SE.

One can hope.

Nothing wrong with continuing to use the iPhone 13 Mini today: Apple CPU has been so far ahead of the competition that apart from on-device generative AI there’s nothing that hugely pushes it. For data, search for “single-core” and “multi-core” in https://infrequently.org/2024/01/performance-inequality-gap-...

How long do we have on the 13 mini before it becomes so slow I have to get a new phone? I don’t know what I’ll do at that point. On the 12 mini now and can never go to a big phone.

Probably a couple of more years provided you can keep replacing your battery. I’m on a 13 Pro Max which has the same SoC as a 13 Mini and while I might want a battery replacement within the next year, the phone itself has no performance issues. I think the iPhone 12 model line is essentially in the same boat, just a little bit older and with worse batteries.

The battery was the main reason I moved from my 12 mini to a 15 (save for USB-C) — just wasn’t holding up, even after a replacement. I still hold out for a 17 mini, though.

My 3 years old iPhone mini 13 is still very fast, reliable, and I love every part of the phone. It's such an amazing phone that functions well. The only thing got worsened is the battery, now at 87% even though I always charge it to 80-85%, now I have to charge it to 100% to use through the day. I still have extra power (like 30%) for a whole day. Replacing the battery isn't a problem. If Apple does support it like other models, it should last another 4-5 years more. I have no plan to upgrade to anything as I don't see anything comparable on the horizon.

A few years still. The XR is still supported with iOS 18.

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