From The Guardian’s “Apple’s iPhone 12 Mini could mark end of giant smartphone era” posted last Wednesday:
“The big news for me is the iPhone 12 Mini,” said Ben Wood, of the tech consultancy CCS Insight. “After years of phones getting progressively bigger, Apple is reversing the trend by offering a flagship product in a smaller package. I think it’ll be a hugely popular move. Where Apple goes, others follow, and I expect all rivals to make similar moves over the next 12 months.
“The fact that the iPhone 12 Mini also supports 5G is a further advantage. Apple’s positioning of the device as the ‘smallest, thinnest and lightest 5G phone in the world’ will undoubtedly grab headlines.”
As well as being a low-cost device, the Mini also addresses long-running criticisms of gender bias in the hardware design of smartphones. The author Caroline Criado Perez, in her award-winning book Invisible Women, writes: “The average smartphone is now 5.5 inches … the average man can comfortably use his device one-handed – but the average woman’s hand is not much bigger than the handset itself.”
From friend-of-the-blog Bart Yee:
Similar article from Times of London re:mini for women but behind paywall. Also Mashable opinion article too.
Android supposedly for tech guys, while Apple knows its products are for everyone, everyday users, and that includes women with different hand sizes. Android fan(boys) deride women, teens, older people using iOS. Guess what, their money and purchasing power is just as good if not more important than just techies. And they are inclined to also purchase accessories too.
That is the reason Apple’s advertising is inclusive, so everyone can see themselves using and owning an Apple product and specifically why. It’s a sound and moral business model.
My take: (Old) Large iPhones for women’s purses. (New) Women wear bluejeans too.
There is a reason for the large form, though. Steve prevented and fought against the large form factor until his staffs finally pulled him reluctantly in that direction. Then the large form exploded in sales. Why? Asians use larger form factors not only as their smartphone, but as their tablet form for doing business. I believe this also is true in Africa. I traveled Asia much and saw this fact. I have not traveled the African continent as much in recent years, but their developing nations would seem idea for the larger device form factor.
In the US and in some other world nations there is the aging boomer population whose vision and fat thumbs call for the “plus” size. Women also seem to desire the plus size form factor, perhaps because they use bags more to accommodate a larger handset.
The men who desire the mini form size mostly are workers on job sites in-the-field who need to have the phone small enough to slide into their pants pocket while working.
In summary, while the premiun iPhone mini is needed and will sell well, it is in no way going to encroach on sales of the larger form factor. I am confident to make this statement.
Ladies, please excuse my using “men” only as I do recognize poignantly women involved in work on job sites in-the-field. It just that the complaints over the lack of available small form size that I have heard came from men friends of mine who do construction work, agricultural work and other kinds of labor work in-the-field where they prefer a small hand set. I know one lady who is a peanut farmer and cattle woman, but she prefers the larger handsets.
More importantly, Apple’s mini and the Pro Max will take share from Android.
I told anyone who would listen that until Apple could determine this device’s market was large enough, say ~40M units annually, the expense, engineering & ROI wasn’t justified. Till now! I’m confident Apple feels that “Small Was Never So Big!” and will be a disruptive yet winning gamble / innovation. Once iPhone 12 mini proves a big winner it will surely jbe followed by at least 5-10 rapidly introduced coattailing Android copies, mark my word. 2/
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The assumption of purse-toting might be overblown in today’s world.