Last week’s poll ends with an interesting result: the size categories are neatly sorted from smallest to largest. And the smallest categories lead with notable margins. Is this the end of the nearly 7-inch slabs and the rebirth of the mini flagship?
Not so fast. It could well be the result of a loud and passionate minority. The first sales data for the iPhone 12 range showed that the mini was underperforming, only making up about 6% of the volume. Compare that with early analysts’ expectations, which predicted mini and Pro Max sales to be roughly equal.
The 6% data is from January and things have not improved since. A week ago, a JP Morgan analyst reported that Apple had reduced the number of versions of the mini by 11 million and that mini-production could end in the second quarter of this year.
For comparison, build orders for the iPhone 12 Pro Max were increased by 11 million, the vanilla 12 Pro got a smaller bump of 2 million (and orders for the iPhone 12 were reduced by 9 million. ).
That means Apple expects to see higher demand for the 12 Pro Max – the biggest iPhone it has built to date. Meanwhile, the 12 mini, the smallest iPhone in recent memory, is underperforming.
Of course, this could just be a case of mini flagships not matching Apple’s user base. You could argue that an Android mini flagship will perform better, but one can hardly use the Xperia Compact phone sales figures to support those arguments.
Ultimately, it will be up to consumers to put their money where they want – if there really is such pent-up demand for a mini flagship, the first one to be released should be a hit. And that doesn’t seem likely at the moment.
| size | Width | |
| iPhone 12 mini | 131.5 mm | 64.2 mm |
| iPhone SE (2020) | 138.4 mm | 67.3 mm |
| Xperia 5 II | 158 mm | 68 mm |
| Xperia 10 II | 157 mm | 69 mm |
| Pixel 4a | 144 mm | 69.4 mm |
| Pixel 5 | 144.7 mm | 70.4 mm |
| Galaxy s21 | 151.7 mm | 71.2 mm |
| iPhone 12 | 146.7 mm | 71.5 mm |
