The iPhone 14 is coming in less than two months, but there’s bad news for fans of Apple’s smaller iPhone 13 form factor. If you were hoping to upgrade to the iPhone 14 mini this year, unfortunately that won’t be an option. Here’s why.
Why won’t there be an iPhone 14 mini?
Apple introduced the 5.4-inch iPhone “mini” form factor with the iPhone 12 lineup in 2020. Despite a vocal group of supporters, it quickly became clear that the iPhone 12 mini wasn’t selling as well as the rest of the iPhone 12. line up.
Just two months after the release of the iPhone 12 lineup, a CIRP analyst report said that the iPhone 12 mini accounted for just 6% of iPhone sales in those first two months. By comparison, the iPhone 12 accounted for 27% of sales, followed by the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max at 20% each.
In fact, the iPhone 12 mini, despite being one of the new “flagship” iPhones, was often overtaken by older models including the iPhone SE, iPhone 11, and iPhone XR.
The iPhone 13 mini was released in September 2021, and despite improvements in battery life and screen brightness, sales were still slow. Recent data from CIRP suggests that the iPhone 13 mini accounted for just 3% of all iPhone sales in the second quarter.
The iPhone range
The iPhone 13 mini (and the iPhone 12 mini before it) sits in an odd place in Apple’s lineup. Currently, Apple sells the following iPhone models:
- iPhoneSE: Starting at $429 for 64GB of storage
- iPhone 11: Starting at $499 for 64GB of storage
- iPhone 12 mini: Starting at $599 for 64GB of storage
- iPhone 12: Starting at $699 for 64GB of storage
- iPhone 13 mini: Starting at $699 for 128GB of storage
- iPhone 13: Starting at $799 for 128GB of storage
- iPhone 13 Pro: Starting at $999 for 128GB of storage
- iPhone 13 Pro Max: From $1,099 for 128 GM of storage
The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini are probably hard to justify for many iPhone buyers given the smaller screen compared to the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12. The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 mini iPhone 13 mini both offer advantages over the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12, but many consumers associate larger screens with a “more premium” device.
The future
A number of reports have indicated that we won’t see an iPhone 14 mini this year. 9to5Mac also exclusively reported that Apple is not testing an iPhone 14 mini.
The iPhone 14 (codenamed D27 and D28) will be available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch sizes. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max (codenames D73 and D74) will also be available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch sizes.
This means that the smaller iPhone 14 will feature a 6.1-inch screen and Apple is reducing the number of screen size options from three to two. The iPhone 13 mini will likely remain in Apple’s lineup at a lower price, perhaps around $599.
The iPhone’s “mini” form factor may make a comeback as the future iPhone SE, but for now the iPhone 14 lineup will mark the end of the era.
FTC: We use revenue-generating automatic affiliate links. After.
Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: