I fall here not to bury the iPhone miniskirt but to praise it . If report are genuine , theiPhone 13 miniwill be the last of its line , replace by a larger iPhone 14 Max this capitulation . And as someone who owns and have sex an iPhone 13 mini , this makes me sad — lamentable enough to hold onto my iPhone 13 mini for another year .
It seems that not enough mass share my love for the iPhone 13 mini for Apple to update it for the iPhone 14 generation . No matter : The iPhone 13 mini is a enceinte equipment . So gravid , in fact , that I suspect we have n’t seen the end of its design yet .
In praise of the little guy
There ’s no denying it : people love big phone . The iPhone went on a huge increment binge the moment Apple made it declamatory with the iPhone 6 generation . Sales figures seem to bear it out . I wo n’t deny that my love of little phone makes me a niche iPhone buyer .
But … do masses really love big phones ? I think they love heavy screens showing more information and playing big moving-picture show . I ’m not indisputable they have it off the redundant weight , the surplus volume , the extra amount of bulk in the pocket – but it ’s worth the trade - off for that big , bright screen .
Users love big projection screen , but do they really know big sound ?
Michael Simon / IDG
Every twelvemonth I have the privilege of using all of Apple ’s iPhones as part of the process of reviewing them . And for the past two years , I ’ve sustain coming back to the iPhone miniskirt design .
First off , it ’s a non - Pro iPhone . And while reasonable hoi polloi can differ , I think that in the iPhone 12 and 13 generations , Apple ’s iPhone Pro design is worse than that of the non - Pro role model . From the bright colors on the back of the devices to the gorgeous anodized aluminum bod , give me the iPhone 13 mini over a duller iPhone 13 Pro any day .
At 5.2 inches marvellous and 2.5 inch wide , it ’s small – mean it fit well in my handwriting and my sac – and yet has a 5.4 - inch show that ’s utterly capable of give apps sight of elbow room to stretch out . It ’s a aspect that harkens back to the iPhone 5 era , my favorite era of iPhone design . But the iPhone mini ’s screen is vastly large than that on the iPhone 5 , thanks to its use of Face ID .
And while bombardment life on the iPhone mini is doubtlessly less than on other iPhones , I need to channelise out that Apple did a great line of work advance the battery life on the iPhone 13 example . The iPhone 12 mini ’s battery life history was a minuscule sketchy , honestly . The iPhone 13 mini ? Not a problem .
iPhone 13 mini
Yes , if you employ an iPhone mini , you will omit out on some central feature article of the iPhone Pro poser . I ’m currently using an iPhone 13 Pro with a beta of iOS 16 , and I ’m constantly reminded that the punk earpiece do n’t have ProMotion or that supererogatory camera on the back . And yet , whenever I contain the big sound in my hand or put it in my sack , I am turn off by its size of it . Why carry a brick in your air hole if you do n’t have to ?
It’s dead, Jim
But this is beside the point , proper ? The iPhone 14 miniskirt is , patently , not a intersection that will exist . Now that I ’ve praised the mini , I need to immerse it . But … will I ?
First , let ’s take the report that the iPhone 14 pedigree will only feature a new A16 processor on the Pro phone model . So not only would the veritable iPhone 14 models not get access to rumored innovations like an always - on video display , they might not be any faster than the current - year models !
I ’m sure Apple will make a few upgrades to the iPhone 14 theoretical account that will push them slightly past the iPhone 13 in terms of specs , but on the small death , this is potentially the least impressive iPhone climb in geezerhood . And it means that the iPhone 13 miniskirt will get another year where it ’s more or less a current phone . I ’ll take it .
And then there ’s the inevitable future : I really do believe the iPhone mini intention will be back . One possible action is for Apple to but alternate between iPhone model so that the miniskirt appears one year and the Max the next . It ’s also not unacceptable that Apple might just bring the mini designing back every few year since it patently has a following – just not a big one .
Then there ’s the iPhone SE , which was recently update to a third - multiplication model . Using the iPhone miniskirt as the fundament of a raw iPhone SE would make sense , as the iPhone miniskirt is higher-ranking to the current SE in every elbow room . Even though it ’s slightly small , it ’s got a bigger screen , documentation for Face ID , and a 2nd rearward camera .
The verity is , the iPhone mini is just too beneficial a product – and a size – for Apple to ignore completely . I ’m still sad that it ’s apparently not pop enough to deserve a novel reading every yr , but I ca n’t believe it ’s gone for undecomposed . In the meantime , I ’ll be holding on to my iPhone 13 mini – and wait on the miniskirt ’s inevitable income tax return .