With the release of the iPhone 14 series, the mini model was officially launched on the historical stage, which means that Apple has officially abandoned the small-screen flagship market. Apple’s exit stems from the fact that sales did not meet expectations. Take the iPhone 12 mini for example, in October 2020 and November 2020, iPhone 12 mini sales in the United States accounted for only 6% of iPhone 12 sales.
Counterpoint Research reports that the iPhone 12 mini accounted for just 5 percent of all iPhone 12 sales in the U.S. in the first half of January 2021.
In April 2022, CIRP released more data showing that the iPhone 13 mini accounted for only 3% of iPhone 13 sales, which is only half of the iPhone 12 mini sales, and these continued low sales are the main reason for the demise of the mini version of the iPhone.
Although Apple has withdrawn from the small-screen flagship market, there are still manufacturers who have not given up. Today, the blogger digital gossip station revealed that Google is developing a small screen flagship, code name Neila.
According to the news, Google’s small-screen flagship uses a centered dugout straight screen solution, the back is a family design language, more details are not yet known.
At present in the Android camp, small screen flagships are few and far between. In addition to the well-known Xiaomi 12S, Xiaomi 12, and Xiaomi 12X, Asus also launched a small-screen flagship Zenfone 9 this year, starting at 799 euros (about 5,500 yuan).
Like the Xiaomi 12S, the Zenfone 9 is also equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ processor and has a battery capacity of 4300 mAh and supports 30W fast charging.
Xiaomi Lei Jun has said that small high-end flagships are very difficult to do, to make the size small, is not only high cost but also technically difficult. Xiaomi 12, for example, and the previous generation of comparison, Xiaomi 12, the overall comprehensive cost increased by 61%.
In short, as strong as Apple can not drive the sales of small-screen phones, it can be expected that the future of small-screen flagships will also focus on niche markets, most brands will not touch this area.
