Apple ought to make a brand new iPhone mini, and here is how I need it to look

One thing I discover fascinating — encouraging, even — is that whereas there have not been any new mini iPhones for the reason that iPhone 13 mini, some individuals are nonetheless clinging onto them for pricey life. These die-hards insist that life is best with a cellphone underneath six inches, since you possibly can truly use it with one hand. By no means thoughts that Minis are not state-of-the-art, and launched with weak battery life that is solely degraded over time — the followers are making it work within the identify of their most popular type issue. It is a small act of rise up, actually.

There isn’t any signal that Apple’s going to launch a brand new mini anytime quickly, for the reason that one addition to the iPhone 17 lineup is rumored to be the iPhone 17 Air, emphasizing thinness as a substitute of display dimension. With latest traits and technological developments, nevertheless, the time might be ripe to rethink the thought, maybe in time for the iPhone 18 or 19.

The important thing breakthrough

Kiss battery complaints goodbye

Probably the most important growth is the arrival of silicon-carbon (Si-C) batteries. These are an evolution of the lithium-ion batteries we’re used to, however with an necessary change — elevated vitality density. Meaning it is doable to ship the identical quantity of vitality in a smaller battery pack, and even higher longevity from a standard-sized one.

We’re already seeing the fruits of this in some units. The most effective-known instance might be the OnePlus 13, which has a 6,000mAh capability. Whereas it is nonetheless finest to cost it in a single day, the product can legitimately make it two days with gentle use. The identical is true of another Si-C telephones, that are being churned out by manufacturers like Oppo, Vivo, and Realme.

Model

OnePlus

SoC

Snapdragon 8 Elite

Show

6.82-inch, 3168 × 1440 pixel decision (510ppi) 120Hz adaptive refresh

RAM

12GB, 16GB

In reality, what’s unusual in the mean time is that Apple and Samsung have not adopted swimsuit. Apple skipped the know-how for the iPhone 16 collection, and appears poised to do the identical with the iPhone 17 lineup, given rumors about how weak the iPhone 17 Air’s battery life has been in testing. Samsung, in the meantime, was anticipated to make use of Si-C within the Galaxy S25 Edge, however selected to not, regardless of charging a premium over the S25+. In the meanwhile, each firms appear to assume that clients care extra about thinness and weight than how lengthy their units run.

Si-C iPhones are solely a matter of time, fortunately, and a brand new mini could be the proper use case. A hypothetical iPhone 18 mini would nonetheless lag behind the common iPhone 18 in runtime — assuming each improve to Si-C — however it could nonetheless be a really sensible machine, in a position to go from wake-up to bedtime without having mid-day refueling. If you happen to’re holding onto an iPhone 12 mini as of late, an early-afternoon charging session might be unavoidable.

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How else may a brand new iPhone mini enhance?

Miniaturization to the rescue

A brand new Mini may additionally reap the benefits of progress in different areas too, equivalent to processor design. Apple’s primary chip producer, TSMC, is rolling out a 2nm course of this 12 months — when you think about that the A15 Bionic processor within the iPhone 13 mini was constructed utilizing 5nm know-how, there’s potential for critical enhancements in element dimension and/or energy effectivity.

One other factor you possibly can depend on is Apple making an attempt to squeeze as a lot as doable into customized chips. Its first mobile modem, the C1, debuted on the iPhone 16e earlier this 12 months, and the corporate is allegedly engaged on an all-in-one wi-fi chip supporting Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and different protocols. If that occurs, it may bump effectivity up one other notch.

Apple may additionally be capable to shrink or utterly eradicate the digital camera notch, maximizing house on a small show (small by trendy requirements, anyway). Eliminating it could require utilizing under-display know-how, which has proved just a little flaky on competing {hardware} — but when there’s any firm that might make it work effectively, it is in all probability Apple.

One other help to battery life could be the adoption of a 120Hz ProMotion show. That is mentioned to be coming to non-Professional iPhones for the primary time with the iPhone 17, and it issues past simply easy scrolling — the tech permits screens to drop to as little as 1Hz based mostly on content material, saving energy in some circumstances whereas enabling always-on capabilities (equivalent to StandBy) in others. Conceivably, an iPhone 18 mini with AOD tech disabled may final for a really very long time… sufficient to skip in a single day plug-ins at times, I will guess.

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What are the possibilities of a brand new iPhone mini?

Remaining ideas

Sadly, I am not relying on it. A brand new Mini may sit in a wierd middleground in Apple’s future lineups, being costlier than an iPhone 18e, however with out the thinness benefit of an iPhone 18 Air. Alongside these traces, Apple appears newly re-committed to the thought of ultra-thin merchandise — simply take a look at the M4 iPad Pro, which was so skinny that it fueled worries a couple of second Bendgate (unfounded, fortunately). The corporate’s not going to shift focus away from the Air type issue except the iPhone 17 Air is an entire catastrophe.

Extra importantly, maybe, the smartphone business normally has drifted away from screens underneath six inches. For no matter cause, mini iPhones by no means bought effectively, and the final flagship cellphone of any sort with sub-6 dimensions was the ASUS Zenfone 10. Compact telephones have turn out to be a distinct segment, with most consumers selecting bigger screens even when it means two-handed texting, or often struggling to suit their telephones of their pockets.

Niches nonetheless demand to be served, nevertheless. One method Apple may take is constructing a clamshell foldable, akin to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 — this may allow one-handed texting from an exterior display, whereas preserving a much bigger main display obtainable for issues like YouTube and net searching. It is such an apparent concept, actually, that the true query could also be when it is coming, not if. The primary folding iPhone is predicted to be a book-style mannequin due in 2026, so we’re in all probability a few years out from a clamshell, no less than.

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