Comment by stillpointlab
15 hours ago
These threads are often amusing with people obliviously asking: why doesn't Apple make exactly what I want? And then stating with certainty how well their custom requirements would sell.
I'll probably wait and see how this phone does over the next few years. If it is still highly regarded by version 3 then I could imagine making the switch to a folding phone. For now I will remain conservative since my phone is such a critical piece of tech.
100%. It was so funny to see how for years, everyone on HN was harping on about how well a smaller iPhone would sell. Then Apple finally released the iPhone mini and nobody was buying it, so they had to kill it after a couple of iterations.
Basically, try to do the opposite of what HN is saying and you might just create a successful product.
It was an lower spec, gimped version to be fair. No one in the market for a new phone on launch day is excited to buy a lower end, worse battery & camera version that's missing multiple features present on the other versions.
I kept an iPhone Mini until an App I need for work started consuming so much memory it became unusable on it (iOS would kill it after 15s). Even then, I raised ticket after ticket with support to get them to fix their app – which they did, then slipped again, for months.
Now I own a 17 pro, which feels like a brick in comparison but has 12 GB of RAM instead of 4.
I really miss my mini.
Fun fact: The iPhone Duo‘s outer display is 5.4 inch, just like the iPhone mini. Ok, with different proportions.
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You could have bought an Air and been closer to your Mini than the Pro is...
You're just proving the point of this thread by pining for a niche phone that almost no one wanted enough to actually own.
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Apple sold around six million Mini models per year that they were on sale.
It's hard to envisage a boardroom scenario where that's not considered successful, but apparently it exists.
Apple sold ~230M iPhones the year the mini was discontinued. 2% is an unquestionable failure.
-an iPhone mini fan
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The mini was not mini enough.
https://youtu.be/FJgTKx-rg18?si=LRWaCeOMC5z-dLOg very relevant video from almost 10 years back which was about Oneplus but says the same thing in much greater depth.
I'm going on ebay to buy old iPhone 13 Minis because I hate giant phones
> Then Apple finally released the iPhone mini and nobody was buying it, so they had to kill it after a couple of iterations.
And by "nobody", you mean "actually a lot of people, just not as many as the bigger model". It's ok to have a model that meets a less common, but still extant, need in the market. If everyone followed Apple's logic on this, people with very small or very large bodies would have to go naked because companies would go "that size doesn't sell as much, we have to kill it" rather than (as actually happens) charging more per unit to make up for the overhead of lower volumes of sales.
The mini accounted for 3% of sales. Personally I’m a believer, and a buyer, but 3% isn’t a good number.
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It's not ok if it uses resources that could be better spent elsewhere. At 3% share what do you expect them to do?
If we’re talking about unattainable dreams, I want a scroll rather than a folding phone - it’d be much better than a me-too form factor like this.
Don’t expect this to sell well - too big for trouser pockets and not enough advantages to the form factor, plus inevitably wear will make it either unprofitable for Apple or an expensive mistake for the purchaser.
The price point also outs it squarely in the luxury end of the market rather than mass-market.
Exactly. Obviously Apple did the research on this.
Personally I still like the "flip" style fold (normal phone size that folds into a smaller square). The lack of durability for the inner screen seems like less of an issue if it's protected inside (while folded). This seems like it really incentivises leaving it unfolded except for pocket use
> Obviously Apple did the research on this.
Where by Apple you mean Samsung.
Apparently, it's the unexpected success of Galaxy Z Fold7 that finally got Apple interested in building a foldable.
> Obviously Apple did the research on this.
Just like they obviously did the research on the Apple VisionPro and that is inevitably going to be the next big computing device, right?
I think the research is exactly what's happening right now (or will once it launches).
Being average person is like winning lottery. Everyone is making products for you.
An average person would ironically be quite unique.
https://www.buildingtheelite.com/average-fails-everyone/
Except there’s no average person, the average itself is a combination of people with the most diverse needs and constraints. It’s like the joke that the average human being has 1 breast and 1 testicle.
Relevant HN discussion?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31957255
My favorite similar statistic is that the average human body contains more than one human skeleton
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Given... things, it's more like 1.9 breasts and testicles. I was talking with someone who just couldn't get why though.
Also you get most anonymity on the internet because they can't fingerprint you.
Everyone is unique, even if average. They 100% can fingerprint anyone.
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All those John Smiths out there are laughing at me
"Bring back the headphone jack, it's what everybody wants and will sell squillions!"
I mean, they have a return policy. Give it a try! It could be fun.
How many years did you keep your Nokia 3310 when smart phones were released
Contrary to popular belief, Apple did not kill the mini because iphone 13 mini sales were poor. And they were poor.
Apple killed it because Mini 14s are illegal in Europe. There are tons in the US though.
The Mini 14 never existed. Perhaps you're thinking of a specific (non-mini) model of the iPhone 12 which was temporarily banned in France or maybe the USB C requirement which went into effect ~1 year after new sales of the iPhone 13 mini were already discontinued by Apple worldwide?
I think maybe they're making a joke about the Ruger Mini-14? It's a rifle.
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I think you meant to say “due to correct belief, Apple did kill the mini due to sales”?
I was ready to switch to a foldable. Then they said there is no FaceId and that idea went out of the window. I sure hope they will include it in later versions.