It’s not just small phones. Getting a decent small tablet is impossible now
I just got myself the Alldocube iplay 50 mini pro. Great little tablet.
I was skeptical initially. Reviews across the board praised it. Bit the bullet and got it … Not perfect but pretty darn good.
Even if only one percent of people want smaller phones, with the huge volume of phones sold I don’t understand how that’s not enough to justify a healthy market.
It probably doesn’t make sense to spend the time, money, and staff to develop/market a small phone for most of the manufacturers because the people that want a small phone will still buy a bigger phone if there isn’t the option for a small one. They can spend less money and make the same number of sales.
99% of the folks that want a particular phone will buy another one instead. Can’t discount the bullheaded consumer (like me).
Right I don’t doubt that the decision makes financial sense because I know several companies, most notably Apple, gave it a really sincere effort with enormous resources.
But it does show that even this last supposed benefit of hyper capitalism—consumer choice—is a bit of a lie. All TVs spy on you, it’s almost impossible to buy a small car in the US, even expensive clothes are made in the same cheap fast fashion factories, and on and on.
Yeah, the small car thing is a perfect parallel. The market doesn’t necessarily fit preferences perfectly: instead, companies optimise for whatever MOST folks will buy that nets them the most money.
They make more money selling a large phone with a bigger sticker price and a bigger profit margin, so they make big phones. And the most phone-hungry people, power users, who buy a new phone every year or so, tend to buy big phones. So they cater to that group.
Think of it this way: when I bought my iPhone SE 2016 7 years ago, I cast maybe $100 of profit “vote” in the marketplace.
Every time someone buys a $1700 folding phone, they cast something between $500 and $1000 of profit “vote” in the marketplace. And they do that every year, not once every 7.
Of course, I’d be willing to spend a lot more on a really decent small phone. But nobody in the market has really experimented with that model yet. And it is admittedly harder to fit components into a smaller phone body (though not as hard as Apple would have you believe – after all, the 14 and 15 literally takes up more space with a useless empty plastic SIM card spacer than the headphone jack used to take.
It’s annoying how inconvenient it is to exercise with a phone nowadays. The armbands needed for a phone compared to an old iPod are comically large, and they’re so big they bounce around.
Smart watches aren’t quite what I want, they’re annoying because they’re not quite phones, and you still need a phone hanging around if you’re using Spotify or other apps and control the media using the watch.
An iPhone 4 or even iPhone 5c sized phone would be perfect for me
I’m definitely a small phone lover. I don’t watch videos on my phone if I can avoid it and tend to consume text-heavy content.
Currently bouncing between an Xperia XZ1 Compact running Lineage 17.1 and an iPhone SE 2016 (!!!) running iOS 15. I get security updates for both, but it’s clear that I’ll have to move to a different phone in the next year or two.
Honestly at this point I just wish Apple would bring out an “iPhone Classic” based on the 4,5, or Mini body. Throw a headphone jack on there, a TouchID power button, and I’d pay serious money for it on launch day. I’d prefer an SD card slot, but if I know the phone will last for 3-5 years, I can pay a couple hundred extra bucks for 512GB of storage.
I just do not get folding phones. I understand that others like them, but I’ve never been a tablet guy. I suppose I would consider one with an internal e-ink screen, so I could combine my e-reader and phone into a single device… but I don’t think I’d enjoy using a phone that’s 1.5-2x the standard thickness of modern phones (not counting those massive camera bumps!). Plus the durability issue – I would absolutely not trust any modern folding phone to last 5+ years, and at the $1000+ price point, it damn well better last 5+ years.
Above all else, I prefer small phones for two reasons:
- my phone can “disappear” into my pocket, even if I’m walking, biking, running, or playing a sport
- I can use my phone with one hand on public transit, or doing one of the above activities if I decide to listen to music during that activity
It’s really frustrating that phone companies don’t bother with small phones any more. But nobody is even trying – and never has tried – to market a small phone that stays out of your way but helps you when you need it. Even Apple barely marketed the Mini at all (and debuted it during a global pandemic when a lot of people stopped commuting and traveling, two of the best times to have a small one-handable phone).
I wonder how much Apple fucked up the small phone market by maintaining exclusive access to the Mini screens from Samsung, as the author mentions in this article.
Nobody is trying to market a phone that stays out of your way because they don’t want it to stay out of your way. They want you to use it as much as possible, both for data collection and brand recognition.
“iPhone Classic” based on the 4,5, or Mini body. Throw a headphone jack on there, a TouchID power button, and I’d pay serious money for it on launch day. I’d prefer an SD card slot,
Similar things have been said many times but not enough people put their money where their mouths are.
Funnily enough, I’m 100 % in the same situation like you. Same switching back and forth between the same two devices. Same lack of options afterwards. I’m so out of options I’m even looking into a weird chinese/Hong Kong device named Unihertz Jelly Star. I’m not sure about the screen size though. 3" is a whole inch smaller than an iPhone SE 2016. That’s damn small, even to my standards
I had a Jelly 2, which came before the Jelly Star. It was pretty dang small. I would have been happier with it if the dang thing didn’t drop wifi and Bluetooth every five minutes. If the Jelly Star has the same antenna, I’d steer clear!
I believe there is a phone called the Retro, which is an old Razor style flip phone, but it only has the screen on the top, and is quite small, and relatively cheap. Not sure about availability though.
Apple didn’t have a claim to all small size screens, they were the only ones who ordered them in the first place. So this isn’t their fault, though I do resent them dropping the 13 mini so suddenly (I had expected to pick one up after this announcement, but they cost the same as the newest pro…)
The small phone project is looking for existing screens so they don’t have to design and pay for the tooling to produce them.
From the article:
“The problem is Apple has exclusive rights to [the iPhone Mini’s] display — so, even with the line being discontinued, [Samsung Display] isn’t going to give us access,” he told supporters last month.
Sounds like we’re splitting hairs: no other OEM is ordering the Mini-sized display, and this line certainly implies some kind of exclusivity. I’ve been following the thread on the Small Android Phone discord as well, and what I’ve seen there aligns with that understanding.
As far as I know, no small manufacturer ever gets displays built specifically for them. Even Pebble, which was a lot more popular than Small Android Phone, used preexisting displays. It just takes a lot of time, knowledge, and money to create a custom display.
How did Apple not try hard enough with the 12 and 13 mini? They did market it but not enough people bought it. Including you, apparently. Instead you’re whining about how you’re forced to use a phone from 2016. And then, in your mind, they are somehow responsible for killing the whole market for small phones, sure.
Folding phones don’t exist in just the tablet form factor, they are doing Flips as well. And they do have a pretty tiny footprint.
The truth is that no one wants phones with small screens except a small, loud minority. But you just keep complaining without actually supporting the small phones they do release, I bet that’ll show them.
I don’t want a small phone but at the same time I don’t want a phone that is massive. Can I just get a medium?
Standard iPhone, zenfone 10 and S23 could be considered medium.
Currently on a Pixel 5. not too big, not too small
I would love a pocketable phone that is also large enough for my failing eyesight. Foldables are a solution, but they need to become more sturdy, and come down in price to reasonable levels.
