My first large smartphone was a samsung galaxy note 2, which at the time was one of the biggest flashship phones around. Then over time, I continued getting the biggest flagship phones possible. But for the iphone 13 series, I challenged myself to use the iPhone 13 mini. I thought switching to such a small phone would be difficult, but honestly. I love the form factor and wish there were more powerful but small phones like this. But after 2 months went by I started to realize how limiting these phones can be and really started to see why these types of phones aren’t really popular.
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What I love about smaller phones is how light and portable they are compared to everything else. It feels almost like nothing in the palm of your hand. I can type, swipe, and reach most of the screen with just one hand. It has similar performance to the other phones in the iphone 13 lineup, battery life usually lasts me a day and it’s also the cheapest of the latest generation iPhones.
So obviously the iphone 13 mini has a lot going for it. So, then why? Why do the iphone mini series sell worse than the regular sized iphone despite being $100 cheaper? To sum it up, the thing holding the mini back is exactly what makes me and other people love it so much, it’s size. The size is the one limiting factor about the phone that affects the iphone 13 mini and pretty much any small phone in a huge way.
The iphone 13 mini does have good enough battery life to get you through the day, when you first get this phone, you’ll probably only be charging it at night, or maybe once throughout a busy day. But most people hold onto their phones for about 2-3 years, and after that long, a lot of things can happen that will decrease the battery life of your phone. As batteries are used and age, they degrade, lowering how much charge your phone’s battery can hold. For older iphones I owned, I think I averaged around 10% battery degradation a year. And even if the battery life is good enough for a day, it won’t be good enough for days when you really have to use it.
Luckily we have a bigger version of the iphone 13 mini for comparison. The Iphone 13. The iphone 13 mini has a smaller battery compared to it’s older brother the iphone 13. That’s 34% more battery capacity than the iphone 13 mini, while some of that is used by the bigger screen, the rest of the extra battery let’s you use the phone longer compared to the 13 mini. So if you were trying to keep your phone for longer without replacing it or replacing the battery, I can see why people would lean to the bigger phone.
Then there’s screen size. The iphone 13 mini has a screen size of 5.4inches. With a screen that small, it makes it harder to use the phone for things other than as a phone. Playing games, reading, watching videos, scrolling through social media, are all a little harder to do on the mini, and a little harder to see too. With the bigger phones, you can see more details, the keyboard is larger and easier to type on, and watching videos and playing games are more immersive. It’s also a cost saver too. A big phone really is a great middle ground between small phones and the big screened tablets.
And finally small phones lack the features. To see what I mean, we can look at the 2 bigger brothers to the iphone 13 mini. The iphone 13 and iphone 13 pro. Take one look at these two phones and you’ll see that they’re roughly the same size, and shape with the only obvious physical difference between them is that, the iphone 13 pro has a 3rd camera lens. And the iphone 13 pro had to make a compromise to do that. So, if the iphone 13 mini were to have a 3rd camera, or really any additional hardware features, I think the battery size would suffer.
So, those are all the reasons that make small phones less appealing to most people. I mean, the small size prevents the phone from having great battery life, prevents it from being on trend with a giant screen, and prevents the phone from having a ton of extra features. But hey, form factor will always be important right? There will always be a group of people who will want a small phone. But I think the definition of a “small” phone is kind of changing. Hopefully small phones make a comeback, because honestly, I can’t really think of many new premium ones other than the iPhone 12 and 13 mini and the Google Pixel 5. Small phones are really cool, and they’re so portable, but to most the trade off of a smaller phone doesn’t outweigh many of the benefits of having a larger. And while I was all for switching permanently to a small phone, after doing so for awhile, I don’t think I could go back. Even if I love the form factor so much.