Comment by dr_
4 years ago
I wonder how much of the limited sales of the iPhone mini could be attributed to the branding? What if Apple were to drop the mini and make this the base iPhone, with the other models being Plus, Pro, Max? Margins may be poorer with Mini, so it likely won’t happen, but I feel mini sales could be much higher if they wanted them to be.
> Margins may be poorer with Mini,
But they don't necessarily have to be. We've never had an option where, for the same price, you could choose screen sizes. There's a sizable portion of people for whom larger phones are simply difficult to use. Would I have paid an extra $50 for my iPhone 12 mini? Yep, because I was buying based on the size, not the price.
This is so weird compared to 20 years ago, where the smaller the phone was, the more expensive it was. The big bulky phones were a sign that you couldn't afford the smaller one. A few friends joke that I couldn't afford a 'real' phone when I pull out my 12 mini, which... is nuts because I bought it outright, and a couple of them worry about 'when can I upgrade? oh, let me check how many more payments I have on this current model'.
That's not a totally fair comparison, because before smartphones there was no inherent advantage to a phone being larger. You got exactly the same features either way, so miniature was premium. Now the big screen is the premium feature.
Yeah you can imagine two purposes for the mini:
1. Cheaper iPhone
2. You don’t want to carry a big iPhone and you have a Mac/iPad nearby anyway for anything complicated so a big phone is unnecessary.
The second case should motivate wanting eg their ‘pro’ cameras in the small phone but the first case motivates making it cheap and low-margin. You can also imagine a world where apple markets a mini phone as also being an optional companion to a bigger phone, but they already have the watch for that.
> 1. Cheaper iPhone
> 2. You don’t want to carry a big iPhone
If you add those two up, you get "Middle school kids".
Though the apple watch with its own SIM has solved some of the "contact device without instagram" needs that parents want with their kids.
But they could have both things in two separate models.
Wasn't the 11 pro the size of the mini / SE? I don't remember whether there was an 11 mini, but it seems to me that 11 pro / SE were exactly that, and the current minis / se are the size of the 7/8/se/11 pro.
I the time I couldn't justify buying a new phone, but I remember late last year, when I figured I could start looking, I was possibly contemplating getting the 13 pro, for the camera. But when I saw how huge it was, I immediately abandoned the idea.
first gen SE is smallest, and both it and the 2nd/3rd gen SE are smaller than the 11 pro (though the latter is closer, only 0.2" smaller in both length and width).
The iphone 12 mini and 13 mini are both smaller than the 2nd/3rd gen SE but larger than the 1st gen SE.
The 2nd/3rd gen SE is the same size as the iphone 8.
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Keep a base and make the Mini another premium option. It's not always that a smaller device is weaker but that it required sophisticated engineering to get everything that compact.
I'd pick a name that suggests that it's a lifestyle thing rather than being spartan.
Sounds like you've answered your own question. Margins are lower, why would they want to sell more of those compared to the regular iphones?
So increase the price?
As a criminal defense attorney, I will never own a FaceID device. Ever. I owned an iPhone 7, then an iPhone 8, then an iPhone SE 2020, then another iPhone SE 2020. I may upgrade to the iPhone SE 2022.
Cost is not an issue for me. I don't buy the iPhone SE because I'm cheap. I buy the iPhone SE because it is, on balance, hands down the best phone Apple makes right now for people who value convenience, portability, and security.
I tried the iPhone Mini when I broke my first iPhone SE while hiking. I don't trust FaceID to work when I want it to (masks, glasses vs contacts, etc. tripped it up). I don't trust FaceID not to work when I don't want it to. I ended up returning it and going back to the SE.
I don't think I'm alone.
Very interesting - what is there specifically about being a criminal defence attorney that makes you district FaceID? Data sharing issues? Securing personal / work data?
I’m not disagreeing, I’m very wary of these mechanisms, just curious about your thought process.
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I stuck with the 12 mini, vs going to another SE (had SE for years). I miss the Touch ID. A lot. Having to look at something, then swipe up, then ... do other stuff to get back to the home screen, instead of literally just putting my thumb on a button the pressing it... it's so much more convenience. Of course, you can just turn off the face stuff altogether, but you lose some security (and IIRC, some of payment stuff won't work?)
Can you not... disable FaceID?
You can set any iPhone to use a passcode every time, disable TouchID, FaceID, whatever.
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Just curious what impact / relevance does being a criminal defense attorney have on using a device with FaceID?
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I have bought the iPhone SE 2022 mainly because it has TouchID. Being cheaper is just icing on the cake.
Just an idea in case they kill touchid options: if you get an apple watch you can keep your phone unlocked when nearby and just disable faceid.
They have also recently improved FaceID to work with masks on, so the situation has improved since you tested the mini.
FaceID can be disabled. Reliably. Not sure I see what the issue is here.
You can also quickly, discreetly, and temporarily disable it, for instance if you are stopped by police. So this just isn't a real issue.