iPhone mini: little hope of a small Apple smartphone

You can hardly imagine it today: The very first iPhone had a screen of only 3.5 inch diagonals – and that seemed great for many users, since it practically only consisted of display at that time. But today there are no more compact Apple smartphones: after the end of the iPhone SE 3 with its 4.7 inches, Apple does not sell a single model below 6.1 inches. And that also seems to stay that way: A well-known Apple journalist recently emphasized in a stream that Apple currently has no corresponding projects (more).

iPhone 12 mini and 13 mini: pointed target group

Iphone’s current design were really compact in the years 2020 and 2021: At that time the models appeared 12 mini and 13 mini. They each brought a screen diagonal of 5.4 inches at 2340 by 1080 pixels and had weight with dimensions of 131.5 by 7.4 mm at 133 g (12 mini, 13 mini minimally thicker and 7 g heavier) shirt and pocket-friendly dimensions. In 2022, Apple then decided-supposedly due to poor sales-to replace the mini design for a plus model that had 6.7 inches. In fact, 12 mini and 13 mini had a lot of target groups, but even today – the devices run with iOS 18 – can continue to work properly.

But it will stay that way, nothing will happen. Like the Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman In a Q&A meeting with readers claimedApple is “currently on nothing” in the direction of a compact smartphone. “The work is now not on a smaller iPhone.” Apple “really moved away” from it.

Rather in the width

Gurman’s view, in the future, plan to use around 6 inches (ie 6.1) as a “basic size” and then to become more “bigger and larger” instead of smaller. “And the bigger you go, the smaller a 6-inch phone feels.”

In fact, with its really acute foldable plans (from 2026), Apple seems to be width. The iPhone 17 Air, which probably appears in autumn 2025 and should be particularly thin, will probably have at least 6.6 inches. So long you can hope that Apple will continue to support the old models. iOS 19 will probably still be playable on iPhone 12 mini and 13 mini, at least current speculation.