Apple drops production of the iPhone 12 mini

It seems iPhone users are bent on getting the latest and greatest (and biggest) from Apple these days, as we find out that Apple has drastically reduced production of the iPhone 12 mini due to lack of interest.

Nikkei (the Tokyo Stock Exchange index) revealed today that Apple will be cutting sales of the smaller version of the iPhone 12 in the US, announcing to its major suppliers a reduction in its production plan for the first half of 2021. Demand for the 5.4-inch display appears to have fallen flat, far from projected expectations. Part manufacturers are having to readjust production for the remainder of the year, with a current projection of 75 million iPhone units to be made by June. 

Apparently, this projection is 20% less than what was originally planned in December, a significant drop for which the iPhone 12 mini is blamed as the culprit. According to Nikkei, Apple's current flagship—the iPhone 12 Pro—remains as popular as ever despite its hefty price tag.

While the mini will not entirely disappear yet, resources will be redirected toward the other more popular iPhone 12 models for Q1 and Q2 this year, as Foxconn (the company in charge of assembling and shipping out the 12 series) has been dealing with growing orders since January.

Come to think of it, while a disappointment to Apple, this may not come as such a surprise. Smartphones have consistently trended towards thinner and bigger, and although the iPhone 12 mini is 100$ cheaper than its larger carbon-copy counterpart, it sacrifices a lot of screen real estate. While the 4.7-inch iPhone SE sold quite well last year (accounting for nearly a quarter of iPhone sales when it came out), its selling point was the 399$ price tag—nearly half of what the 12 mini is going for right now.

Without a particular budget-friendly appeal, unless you have unusually small hands (or your wardrobe sports only elf-sized pockets for some reason), it might not make sense to go small this time around if you want the best bang for your buck. With the rise of easily accessible video streaming platforms and Youtube, people are doing a lot of video-watching on the go on their smartphones these days—for which the iPhone 12's 6.1-inch OLED display is definitely more attractive.