Surprise: iPhone 13 mini gets discontinued, along with these other iPhones

Every year, right after Apple announces it's new iPhones, the company also removes some of the older models which had been on sale up until that moment. It's a bitter-sweet moment because we get to see something fresh and cutting-edge, but we're also sad to see a favorite device go forever.

This year generally isn't unlike any other, but with one exception which might feel particularly unpleasant to people who appreciate small-sized phones.

Now that the iPhone 15 family has been officially announced and added to Apple's iPhone line-up, what we expected to see was Apple's usual spiel, which would have involved discontinuing the previous Pro models, in that case the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, as well as the oldest regular model still on sale – in that case that would be the iPhone 12.

So far, so good – that prediction has come true and those models can no longer be purchased from Apple.

However, the unpleasant surprise of the day is that Apple also unexpectedly discontinued the iPhone 13 mini, meaning that there's no longer a model with a 5.4" screen sold by the company. That's the end of the mini line as we know it. It doesn't mean Apple will never release a modern compact iPhone again, but for the time being, it looks like the fate of the mini iPhone has been sealed.

This can only mean one thing and it's what we already knew from various market sources: the iPhone 12 mini and 13 mini simply couldn't generate enough sales to keep their place in the iPhone line-up.

Of course, one doesn't always have to buy their iPhones directly from Apple, and while there's a high likelihood the 13 mini will also disappear from the shelves of most major retailers, it's safe to say that there will be many stores around the world which would still be offering iPhone 13 mini units for a while. At least there's always eBay, so if you really decided that you want to get the last 5.4" iPhone in 2023 and beyond, it'll be doable.

Do you think it was a bad move by Apple to discontinue the last mini iPhone? Share your thoughts in the comments!