It's equally as ridiculous to say "small phones are a niche" in 2019 when nobody was selling small phones, as it was to say "phablets are a niche" in 2013 when Apple wasn't selling a big phone.
I would bet that the Mini will be a runaway bestseller.
I guess “runaway” is kind of hard to define, huh? Obviously bestseller means “outsells all other sizes.”
The king of leaks* claims that Apple expects the regular size iPhone to make up 40% of sales, and the Mini, Pro and Pro Max splitting the remainder roughly evenly. IMO, if the Mini share is something like 35% and the regular size is 25%, that’s blasting past Apple’s (or at least the most prolific insider’s) expectations.
As for determining the winner... that’s a little tricky. I was thinking browser stats, but 12 and 11 Pro have same screen resolution... I’m willing to take word of “Omdia” or whatever barely credible research firm wants to speak up when Apple is reporting their winter quarter earnings.
I’m poor, so say $250 to the loser’s charity of choice?
Not the parent but my daughters have refused to upgrade from their original iPhone SEs because all the newer phones are so much bigger and more slippery.
Personally, I went from an 8+ to an 11 because the 11 fits better in my pants pocket. I thought about the 11 Pro just because of the smaller size but couldn't justify the price.
Six months from now (after 5G gets proven one way or the other) the 12 Mini would be really tempting.
Apple simply prioritised pixel density over screen size. Once they’d gone to retina resolution displays, they didn’t want to drop the resolution to make a bigger phone and still have good performance and battery life.
Bear in mind the 6+ was actually a bit under powered for its screen. While overall it was acceptably performant, mine noticeably lagged compared to a 6 in graphically intensive applications, so they did the transition just when they could get away with having both high resolution and acceptable performance.
It's not an "excuse". It's an affirmative choice, and it was the right choice, in the opinion of many.
Yes, some Android devices do manage to beat Apple to market with various specs or features, occasionally. Usually in a way that is compromised, half-baked, or results in other issues. If you prefer that approach, there are plenty of Android phones you can buy and use for, oh, maybe 6-12 months before their version of the OS is permanently outdated and can't ever be updated. Have at.
Facts are facts, you're clearly an Apple fanboy the way you're responding. There were large screen Android phones that were running 60fps in Geekbench before Apple, so clearly the GPU performance and density existed and was shipping.
Apple actively advertised (real print ad campaigns) AGAINST large screen phones, they said they were un-ergonomic and too large of a form factor to hold and use single handed. The company had a real psychological opposition resisting large screen phones and gave non-technical justifications for their opposition.
Simultaneously, Steve Jobs attacked mini-tablets, claiming "7″ tablets should come with sandpaper, so users can file down their fingers"
So let's just be clear here: Apple creates a PR narrative that something sucks unless they do it, even if that thing categorically sucks (non-one-handed-use-phones, mini tablets). Specs don't matter when Apple devices consistently had inferior performance, and now that Apple Silicon leads, of course specs are front and center.
What's happened is, after they ship, they ret-con the reasons why it took so long, in order to provide an excuse that they had misjudged the market, that Steve Jobs had been wrong in his intuition about big phones and small tablets.
Pretty rich being summarily called an "Apple fanboy" by an actual Google employee who then posts the most tendentious possible reply. But I noticed you didn't actually rebut what I said. I also noticed that you found it necessary to bring up 8-year-old issues as a distraction tactic.
This Google employee happens to own every iPhone since exception, a Mac Pro (cheese grater), Mac Pro (trash can), an iMac, multiple AppleTVs, multiple Apple Watches.
It's possible to like Apple HW and still dislike the company's messaging and PR.
In absolute numbers there’s a good market for “mini” (or smaller) phones. But relatively speaking it’s a niche.
The market has spoken! But fortunately the market is literally billions of smartphone users so there’s a lot of room for variety.