The iPhone 13 mini

In our opinion, rumours of the iPhone mini’s demise are being greatly exaggerated. While it’s entirely true that the smaller, 5.4-inch iPhone has not been selling as well as Apple had hoped, we think there are a number of very good reasons for that, ranging from its later release date to the fact that most iPhone owners are on two-year upgrade cycles and really had no idea that a smaller iPhone like this was coming.

So, although some analysts have seen the iPhone 12 mini’s failure to grab more market share as a sign that nobody wants smaller smartphones anymore, that’s far from a foregone conclusion, and we doubt very much that Apple sees it that way either. In the very least, it’s not about to declare the 5.4-inch iPhone a failed experiment until it’s given it at least another year, and possibly even more.

This also lines up with what most reputable analysts have been saying all along, which is that Apple still plans to release the same four-model lineup this fall, by which time we may be pleasantly surprised to see the uptake on the much more pocketable iPhone.