Hi and Goodbye iPhone 13 mini: iPhone 14 Max to replace Apple’s biggest small mistake - but why?

It's pretty safe to assume that Apple only kept the iPhone 12 mini around, so it makes the iPhone 13 mini stand out and look like an even better deal. If you look at the two side by side, the iPhone 13 mini:

• Starts at 128GB of storage
• Has a brighter display
• Boasts a faster processor
• Has a better camera system borrowed directly from the iPhone 12 Pro Max, save for the 2.5x telephoto camera
• Supports Cinematic video (portrait mode for video)
• Has a bigger battery, said to last 1.5h longer compared to the 12 mini, thanks to more efficient software and hardware

So, yes! Apple fixed the mini iPhone. The 12 mini had an OK camera system, poor battery life, and it came with only 64GB of base storage. All of that has been upgraded with the iPhone 13 Mini, which now seems like an amazing device for those who want a small iPhone.

iPhone 14 Max to replace iPhone 14 mini in Apple's 2022 iPhone lineup

But despite the fact that Apple's 13 Mini fixes all major 12 mini problems, Apple is on its way to retire the mini iPhone altogether. Yes! The latest reports from multiple (reliable) sources say that Apple's 2022 lineup will look like that:

• iPhone 14 (6.1-inch) - old design with the new, narrower notch
• iPhone 14 Max (6.7-inch) - old design with the new, narrower notch

• iPhone 14 Pro (6.1-inch) - new design with a punch-hole cutout
• iPhone 14 Pro Max (6.7-inch) - new design with a punch-hole cutout

For a deep dive into Apple's iPhone 14 plans, you can click here. Love it or hate it, this is starting to look both extremely likely to happen and very logical. Why? Well...

1. Apple puts out a mini iPhone - sales are poor.
2. Apple finds out that people don't want small iPhones anymore.
3. Apple releases another mini iPhone - probably because it was planned for production and the company had the components, so it couldn't drop it midway.
4. Apple stops making mini iPhones.

If this was my business, I'd do the same. Clearly, it's not 2007 anymore, and we want bigger screens. You want a bigger screen! So it's all your fault, folks. You can apologize in a comment below the story. But seriously - if demand goes down, supply does too. It's not rocket science.

• iPhone 13 mini
• iPhone 12 mini
• iPhone SE (2020)
• Asus Zenfone 8
• Pixel 4A
• Pixel 5

As you can see, there are a bunch of problems here:

1. Three of these are certainly going to go away sooner or later - the iPhones.
2. The list isn't very long.
3. The Pixel 4A isn't even a flagship device.
4. Some of them aren't exactly "small", although this depends on your understanding of what a small phone is.

Ultimately: Apple's smallest big mistake

So, that's what went wrong. Apple didn't seem to be able to read the market correctly, which is surprising. Perhaps the iPhone 12 mini was an emotional piece for Apple; maybe it was a pure experiment, or it was just… a mistake.

Regardless, I'm glad it exists. I'm even more glad the 13 mini made it to production, given the poor iPhone 12 mini sales. Apple is famous for supporting its iPhones for as long as 5-6 years with software updates, so if you want to rock a mini iPhone, the 13 mini might last you for a while, even if in five years the smallest smartphone has a 7-inch display - perhaps a foldable one.

With all that being said, it's a pity to say goodbye to the cutest iPhone, but it's exciting to prepare to welcome the new iPhone 14, Max. Big screens are "all the rage", I guess. Rage on!