Having seen the iPhone 12/Pro in person, I am pretty convinced that without a case, the size of the 12/Pro is probably just nice for many people. Which bring the questions;
Will the 12 mini be too small?
Is this the real successor to the iPhone 5s size phones that 5s and SE (2016) users have been wanting since 2018?
Too Small?
What constitutes ‘too small’? Is the iPhone 5s too small? Is the iPhone 4 the right size? Everyone’s idea of the perfect size for phones has been changing through the last decade, no thanks to the ever growing sizes of phone displays, as phone manufacturers find ways to justify increasing their product prices.
One way to determine if it is too small is obviously through the physical dimensions of the phone. Take note that a “5.4 inch display” really does little to inform you of how the iPhone 12 mini will feel in your hand. It is, after all, physically even smaller than the iPhone 8 which had a 4.7 inch display.
Apple’s site states the following dimensions for the iPhone 12 mini – height 131.5mm, width 64.2mm and depth 7.4mm, with a weight of 133 grams.
The iPhone 5, iPhone 5s and iPhone SE (2016)’s dimensions are – height 123.8mm, width 58.6mm and depth 7.6mm, with a weight of 112/113 grams.
Looking at the numbers we can see that the iPhone 12 mini is a little taller, a little wider, and actually a little THINNER than the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s and iPhone SE (2016).
True Successor to the iPhone 5s?
Here is a photo of the iPhone 12 mini case in my asian size male hand.
Comparing it with the iPhone 5s in a case, the additional height and width is barely noticable. If you are coming from an iPhone 5, iPhone 5s or iPhone SE (2016), you are barely going to notice a difference in the feel of the iPhone 12 mini (in a case) in your hand. Unless of course, if even the iPhone 5s is too big for you, you probably need a feature phone (if you can still find one).
Finally the last two telcos revealed their prices for the new iPhones. Below are the price comparisons at the various plans. Images sourced from HWZ. Click on the images to view in full size.
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This year’s prices are quite a bit higher, due to the fluctuation in exchange rates.
It is however, interesting to note that the iPhone 5c is only retailing at $318 at the lite plan (the plan most Singaporeans will pick), while the iPhone 5s is retailing at $538 at the same plan, with the 5c at a full $220 cheaper.
Looks like the subsidies are higher for the 5c, and those buying on contract should do well to consider the 5c instead.
While I am most probably buying a 5s because I am already carrying a 5, truth be told, I will much rather buy a blue 5c this Friday. It’s just a bit funny to consider the phone with the same specs when you are supposed to be upgrading.
Those without the 5 though, I cannot stress this enough – the iPhone 5c is a superb phone for the price. Don’t believe me? Just touch the real thing this Friday. You won’t be disappointed.
There are units reaching Mac retail stores (NuBox, epiCentre) TODAY, 18th September 2013. While I am not sure if there will be display units out today, if you are nearby one it makes sense to go in and ask if you can try out the 5c.
As recent rumors have pegged, tonight’s Apple event will introduce two new iPhones – the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C.
We have seen enough leaks to know everything there is to know about the iPhone 5C’s five colors and construction, and how they are really just iPhone 5 innards in a new plastic housing.
That said, the exact placement of the iPhone 5C in Apple’s iPhone lineup remains a mystery up till now.
In a previous post, I had revealed that the iPhone 5C had a 4-inch screen and a Lightning port (thanks to my friends) and speculated that the iPhone 5C will replace the iPhone 4S at the lowest end of the iPhone lineup and complete the transition of the iPhone line to Lightning ports and 4-inch screens this year, leaving the iPhone 5S at the top and the current iPhone 5 in the middle of the lineup.
I still think that this will be the arrangement, but rumors (from idiotic analysts nonetheless) suggest that the iPhone 5C will replace the iPhone 5 completely, leaving only the two new iPhones (and the old iPhone 4S) in the iPhone lineup.
This is weird for various reasons.
Firstly, it will leave a big gap between the pricing of the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C, assuming that the iPhone 5C will be quite a bit cheaper than the iPhone 5S. Previous years, the mid-range iPhones have always been about 100USD cheaper than the top-of-the-line models, and people who are intending to buy mid-range this year will not be happy that they are paying for something that are not last year’s models, at the same top-range-minus-hundred price point.
Secondly, it will not be feasible to have the iPhone 4S remain on the lineup, for the extra effort Apple needs to maintain the dock connector accessories and the assumed extra cost of making the iPhone 4S’ metal and glass housing will outweigh the benefits of just letting the same production lines making the now lesser in demand iPhone 4S continue running.
The only reason/way I can see it (iPhone 5C replacing the iPhone 5) is if the supply yield of the delicate aluminum and glass housing of the iPhone 5 still remains small today even after one year of production, due to the care needed to prevent scratches on the soft aluminum on the assembly lines.
If that is truly the case, it will make sense for Apple to divert all current iPhone 5 housing production lines to the production of the iPhone 5S, to ensure maximum supply of the iPhone 5S on launch day (20th September) and in the months after that, especially with the rumored increase in color choice.
Plastic housings are extremely cheap and easy to produce (ask Samsung), and will be produced fast enough to meet iPhone 5C launch demand, and a big supply of iPhone 5Cs is need if China is going to be part of the first launch countries this year.
Apple will still have to adjust their prices accordingly, and there will still be a gap, unless of course they just went ahead with the old top-range-minus-hundred pricing assuming that people will pay for the "newness" of the multi colored iPhone 5C lineup.
Can’t wait for tonight! Will love a blue 5C.
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First and foremost, I am willing to believe, that the news of the coloured iPhone 5S/6 this year is real – even before the recent spat of reports, a little bird from the Far East gave me the heads-up on the coloured iPhones. The same sweet chirpy told me about production trial runs of metallic micro-sim trays by Apple two weeks after the iPhone 3G went on sale in Singapore, so as far as I’m concerned coloured iPhones is a done deal.
It will seem the completely black iPhone 5 last year was simply a trial run, on how well colour-anodised aluminium iPhones will stick, and despite the initial “scuffgate” blowup, the black iPhone 5 is by far the preferred colour for most.
Going colours this year is simply a natural evolution – the original iPod started with nothing but white for the first few generations, before the iPod mini came along with colours and become the hottest selling iPod ever.
Apple as a company have always embraced products with differing colour schemes, the original multi-colour iMacs set off the whole colour-plastic PC trend of the early 2000s. especially from Compaq, and whenever volume of the product made sense for Apple to add colours as an option, they have always did, like with the iMacs, the initial iBooks, and to the certain extent the first MacBooks with the surprising inclusion of a black colour option. They are certainly not unfamiliar with colour-anodised aluminium products, with the many generations of iPod nanos serving as proof.
I have not heard much about the plastic iPhones though, probably because Foxconn will not be manufacturing them. Some rumours are stating that they will be utilising the old 3.5 inch retina display instead of the newer 4 inch ones, coupled with possibly iPhone 4S-level innards (Apple A5 and the such), essentially just an iPhone 4S without the glass and metal.
Personally I will like to see something different.
Instead of the old 3.5 inch displays, the new plastic iPhones should have the standard 4 inch displays of the current iPhone 5. This will make this year’s iPhone lineup into a all 4 inch affair, making the old resolution a thing of the past. With the cost savings from a plastic case and economics of scale from manufacturing the new 4 inch displays, the plastic iPhones should be cheap enough to manufacture as a viable replacement for the iPhone 4/4S.
All that is assuming that the iPhone lineup will remain a 3-model affair.
While Apple’s current strategy of simply having older iPhones remain in the lineup to act as lower cost alternatives to the flagship models probably a smart move on paper, having the same production lines running for years instead of making new products means the economics of scale add up to their benefits.
However, the cheapskate consumers are a fickle bunch. Most do not have a particular loyalty to any mobile OS, and will just buy whatever is in their budget and looks nice enough to them. This has always been Apple’s main problem with their “older models as lower cost models” strategy – the phones are “old” and “boring”.
Consumers will rather buy a newly introduced, cheapskate low end phone from Samsung or anyone else than to buy, for example, an brand new, but now “3-year-old” iPhone 4, simply because the Samsung is “new” and the iPhone 4 is “old” and 50% of the population are carrying one.
Most consumers are shallow, superficial, and are almost always, extremely fashion conscious, especially the ones who buy lower-end phones and do not have needs that require the higher computing cores of the flagship smartphones.
The only way to capture their hearts is to make a brand new line of lower cost, but way more fashionable, iPhones for them.
Apple knows this. They were, and still are, the kings of the portable media player market with the low cost but extremely fashionable iPod Nano.
They were always going to do this. I just hope the execution is good – they better don’t choose the wrong colours (the iPod Nano of certain years were released with questionable choices of colours which impacted their sales quite a bit, think iPod Nano Phat, for example).
