And so it came to pass. The rumours were true. The iPhone mini is no more. Well, it's not completely gone, Apple hasn't actually discontinued the iPhone 13 mini, but it hasn't updated it either. I'm not angry, Apple. I'm just disappointed.
Alas, the writing was on the wall for the iPhone mini for a while. Sales figures for the iPhone 12 mini were allegedly pitiful, and the 13 mini fared even worse. With no discernable appetite for the diminutive device, Apple decided there would be no iPhone 14 mini. Fans of small phones might want to check out our iPhone mini deals roundup.
The iPhone 13 mini is the last of the minis (for now) (Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
By this point, the lack of iPhone 14 mini isn't surprising. Rumours had suggested for a long time that Apple was planning to go big on the iPhone 14 – literally. Just as we expected, the company announced a standard iPhone 14, and a bigger, 6.7-inch version dubbed iPhone 14 Plus. For many, this will be good news – larger screens are clearly popular, and now you don't need to fork out for the wildly expensive iPhone 14 Pro Max for the big screen experience.
If you like small phones, you won't love the iPhone 14 Plus (left) (Image credit: Apple)
But then there are those of us who have always preferred the smaller iPhone sizes. I was a big fan of the original SE in 2016, and the mini was the first phone in years that offered up-to-the-minute performance within a device that didn't require three hands to hold. I'm not desperate to carry an IMAX screen in my pocket, and can actually reach the corner of the iPhone 13 mini display to activate Control Centre without doing myself an injury. But clearly demand for the iPhone mini was as small as the phone itself.
And yet, there may just be hope. One thing Apple didn't announce during this week's event was a new iPhone SE. With SE 3 still clinging to that that tired home button/fat bezel design (a design that is now 8 years old), surely the SE 4 will need to adopt a new look. Could Apple be saving the iPhone mini design for the next generation of SE? I can but hope – and so can my tiny hands.
Could the iPhone SE one day adopt the mini design? (Image credit: Apple)
To catch up with everything Apple announced this week, take a look at our guide on how to pre-order the iPhone 14, Apple Watch Ultra and more. And if you want to experience the delights of the iPhone 13 mini before it's too late, check out today's best deals below.
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Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles. He has interviewed leaders and designers at brands including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe. Daniel's debut book of short stories and poems was published in 2018, and his comedy newsletter is a Substack Bestseller.
