{"id":1574,"date":"2022-03-16T14:38:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T14:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/16\/please-dont-kill-the-iphone-mini\/"},"modified":"2022-03-16T14:38:47","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T14:38:47","slug":"please-dont-kill-the-iphone-mini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/16\/please-dont-kill-the-iphone-mini\/","title":{"rendered":"Please don\u2019t kill the iPhone Mini"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/3\/16\/22980216\/apple-iphone-mini-hopefully-alive<\/a>
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On Sunday, one of the most trusted sources of Apple rumors<\/a> revealed that we can expect four new iPhones later this year: two with 6.1-inch screen sizes, likely to be the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, and two with 6.7-inch screens, likely dubbed the iPhone 14 Max and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Four phones in total.<\/p>\n

The tweet<\/a> made me gasp because of what\u2019s missing. There\u2019s nothing even close to the 5.4-inch screen size of my beloved iPhone Mini<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I know, I know, many people prefer big screens<\/a>, and the iPhone Mini wasn\u2019t exactly a success according to supply chain reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But that didn\u2019t keep me and 11 other Verge<\/em> staffers from buying one \u2014 and when I polled my colleagues this week, seven of us still agree that the rest of the world\u2019s too-big phones can shove it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got small hands or a desire to use our phones one-handed while juggling other responsibilities, and there\u2019s nothing else that comes even close. In the US, the iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 13 Mini are among the only full-fat compact smartphones on the market, and they\u2019re arguably in a class of their own: rivals like the Sony Xperia 5 III<\/a> are much taller, and while a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3<\/a> might fold down to fit into a pocket, it\u2019s still notably wider than the iPhone Mini\u2019s blissfully graspable form. (Also, both of those phones start at $1,000 and run Android, though that wouldn\u2019t stop all of us.)<\/p>\n

As an owner of a Google Pixel 4A and a casual admirer of my wife\u2019s iPhone 13 Pro, I can tell you right now neither of them is a viable alternative to the Mini: their 5.8- and 6.1-inch screens now feel huge by comparison, and the Pro\u2019s hefty steel build always makes me feel like I\u2019m going to drop it, too. <\/p>\n

Despite the iPhone Mini\u2019s iffy battery life, a significant number of us here at The Verge<\/em> believe there\u2019s no better option. But if analyst Ming-Chi Kuo\u2019s prediction is true \u2014 and he\u2019s rarely wrong when it comes to sizes, by the way \u2014 it means Apple is done offering a yearly upgrade path for people like us. <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another place where small phone lovers at The Verge<\/em> agree: it doesn\u2019t need to be yearly. We could wait. And that might line up nicely with the other<\/em> revelation that Kuo tweeted this week. <\/p>\n

Normally, when you buy the new iPhone, you get the new A-series chip, right? Not in 2022, says Kuo. The iPhone 14 will have the same chip that came with the iPhone 13 in 2021, with newer A16 chips exclusively headed to Apple\u2019s new \u201cPro\u201d series phones<\/a>. If true, that means Apple was already<\/em> planning to change its annual upgrade cycle in 2022 \u2014 and that might give it a natural opportunity to bring back the Mini when it might actually count.<\/p>\n

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Only two Pro models would upgrade to the A16 processor, while the 14 & 14 Max will remain the A15. All four new models will likely come with 6GB RAM, with the difference being LPDDR 5 (14 Pro & 14 Pro Max) vs. LPDDR 4X (14 & 14 Max). https:\/\/t.co\/tHcszIz6gX<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u90ed\u660e\u9324 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 13, 2022<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

If Apple offered a Mini in 2023 instead of 2022, perhaps it would be in time for a new, more efficient processor that could theoretically help with its battery life. (Apple\u2019s previous solution was to make the iPhone 13 Mini\u2019s battery nine percent bigger than the iPhone 12 Mini\u2019s pack, which definitely helped some<\/a>.) <\/p>\n

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