Updated: October 25, 2020 9:35:25 pm
The iPhone 12 Mini includes a 5.4-inch screen. (Image credit: Apple)
In a few days from now, Apple will begin selling the iPhone 12 Mini, the smallest flagship iPhone that Cupertino has released in recent years. Starting at Rs 69,900, the iPhone 12 Mini has grabbed more headlines than any other iPhone in the iPhone 12 lineup. It makes us wonder why there is such a craze for a 5.4-inch iPhone when the market has already moved to smartphones. big screen. Is Apple responding to consumer demand with the launch of the iPhone 12 Mini, or is there an untapped market for compact flagships that the competition didn’t notice?
“I expect the iPhone 12 Mini to be very popular,” said Ben Wood, head of research at analyst firm CCS Insight. indianexpress.com. “Flagship smartphones have gradually gotten bigger in recent years and the larger design is not to everyone’s taste, particularly for people with smaller hands and pockets,” he added.
Apple’s decision to launch a 5.4-inch iPhone 12 Mini marks a key transition for a smartphone market that has accepted that consumers no longer want compact flagship models. But that’s not entirely true. There have been previous efforts to bring high-end compact smartphones to market, but somehow those devices lacked ambition. Indeed, Sony, Samsung and HTC tried to create a market for high-end ‘mini’ smartphones that bring the design and style of a flagship but in a smaller footprint. Unfortunately, the top three Android makers failed to convince consumers to buy “small” phones, in part because the devices had so many compromises.
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Wood suggested that people who wanted a compact smartphone had to compromise on features and specifications for a long time. However, the iPhone 12 Mini brings the exact same processor, a dual camera system, an OLED screen to a phone that can be used with one hand. In Apple’s words, the iPhone 12 Mini is the smallest and thinnest 5G-capable smartphone in the world.
The smallest iPhone 12 Mini will be available to pre-order on November 6 in India. (Image credit: Apple)
The problem is that the industry has always dictated what consumers should look for in a smartphone and a large screen phone is better than a smaller one. That is exactly the reason why you will no longer find compact smartphones on the market. When you search for “small phones” on Amazon or Flipkart, a couple of feature phones appear on the first page of search results. It means that these e-commerce sites do not understand what a consumer is looking for or that they do not currently have a small “smartphone” available for sale. But how do you determine a compact phone, when an average smartphone these days has a 6.1-inch screen size?
Every few years, the ideal size of the smartphone screen changes. When the original iPhone came out in 2007, it had a 3.5-inch screen, a screen size that Steve Jobs called the “perfect size for consumers.” Since then, smartphone screens have only gotten bigger. The 5.3-inch screen of the Galaxy Note changed the smartphone market forever, introducing a series of “phablets” with giant screens. After the launch of the Galaxy Note in 2011, a trend for big-screen phones emerged and smartphones have gotten bigger ever since. Even Apple eventually succumbed to market pressure, releasing the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in 2014. The latter was Apple’s first foray into a large-screen smartphone space.
Steve Jobs said the iPhone’s 3.5-inch touchscreen was the perfect size for consumers. (Image credit: Reuters)
As the trend toward large-screen smartphones normalized, it pushed smaller phones, especially compact flagships, off the market, leaving consumers with no choice but to adopt large screens on smartphones. Big screen phones are now a reality, and this trend may be reflected in the high-end smartphone lines from Samsung and OnePlus, two of the biggest names in the premium smartphone segment. On all four OnePlus smartphones, the smallest screen size on offer is 6.3 inches. Similarly, the smallest phone in Samsung’s Galaxy S20 lineup is the Galaxy S20, which is 6.2 inches and quite a large phone. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S20 Ultra boasts a gigantic 6.9-inch screen.
Yes, most like big screen phones so they can watch movies or play games on the go. Still, the fact remains that phones like the Galaxy S20 Ultra or OnePlus 7T Pro would be too heavy and cumbersome to handle for most people. In fact, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is difficult to use even with two hands.
By selling smartphones with 6.2-inch or larger screens, both Samsung and OnePlus are not giving consumers a choice, instead forcing them to choose a phone that may not be for them. Ironically, both brands in the past have offered premium compact phones. OnePlus caused a stir in the market when it launched the OnePlus X, while Samsung was selling the Galaxy S10e until recently.
Samsung’s flagship, the Galaxy S20 Ultra, has a massive 6.9-inch display. (Image credit: Sneha Saha / Indian Express)
But Apple still sells iPhones in various screen sizes, so it caters to a broader set of consumers. If you want an iPhone with a screen size smaller than 5 inches, you can go for the iPhone SE (2020), or if you want an uncompromising premium iPhone, get a 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro. The point is that Apple at least offers consumers options to choose which iPhone best suits their needs by making a clear distinction between different sizes of iPhones.
“The iPhone 12 Mini offers customers more options and extends the reach of the iPhone 12 family of devices,” Wood said, adding that he expected the phone to “have a positive impact on demand for Apple’s new iPhone devices.” .
Experts believe that the iPhone 12 Mini will set the standard for “small” flagships in the future.
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Apple may not be the first to launch a “mini” smartphone, but the ball is on the court in Cupertino as there is no competition from Android rivals today. Many believe that the iPhone SE (2020), which made its debut earlier this year, was a testing ground for Apple to create a market for “small” phones.
Wood believes that other phone makers like Samsung and Xiaomi will add smaller flagship models to their portfolio over the next 12 months. Given that Apple has the compelling power, it might be easier for Cupertino to sell a 5.4-inch iPhone 12 Mini because the phone is attractively priced and will be perfect for many people, due to its compact form factor.
We tried to find “small phones” on Amazon.in, and what turned up in the search results were feature phones. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia / Indian Express)
“Some people won’t want to go back to a smaller screen, but ultimately it’s about choice. That said, I think some consumers will be a bit surprised when they get their hands on the iPhone 12 Mini and find that it is noticeably smaller than the current crop of 6-plus-inch smartphones. It’s a case of ‘back to the future’ since the iPhone 12 mini is roughly the same size as the iPhone 6, ”Wood added.
A senior executive at a popular smartphone retail chain, who wished to remain anonymous, said he hopes the iPhone 12 Mini will perform well in India. “Instead of Samsung making a compact phone, or Mi (Xiaomi) making a compact phone, when Apple makes a compact iPhone, there is definitely a market for it,” he said.
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