The iPhone 12 mini was met with a lot of excitement because it's a high-end smartphone that doesn't make compromises with specs to get its small size. However, new reports say that that excitement about the small iPhone may not be leading to actual purchases.
A new report says that the iPhone 12 mini was the least popular of the four iPhone 12 models in its first month of availability. Wave7 Research (via PCMag) spoke to carrier sales reps and found that the iPhone 12 mini only accounted for 4-5% of sales at AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
To compare, the iPhone 12 was the most popular model of the four and accounted for 24-33% of sales at the three major U.S. Carriers. The iPhone 12 Pro Max was also more attractive to consumers because of its camera.
A separate report from Flurry Analytics backs up the weak demand for the iPhone 12 mini. Those analytics show that not only was the iPhone 12 mini the least popular iPhone during its launch week, it was the least popular launch week iPhone model in the past three years.
Smartphone displays have steadily been getting bigger and bigger, and now the most common screen size seems to be around 6 inches. Some folks long for the days when smartphone displays were typically 4 or 5 inches, and the iPhone 12 mini with its 5.4-inch display and specs that are mostly unchanged from the regular iPhone 12 should appeal to those people.
These new analyst reports suggest that that's just not the case, though we're unlikely to ever get actual sales numbers or anything like that from Apple. As for why the iPhone 12 mini may not be selling as well as expected, there are a few possibilities. The one compromise that the iPhone 12 mini does make is battery life, which is understandable given its smaller size, and so some customers may prefer to just get the regular iPhone 12 that's not that much larger but does have longer battery life.
The iPhone SE may be stealing some sales from the iPhone 12 mini, too. Not only is its 4.7-inch screen even smaller than the iPhone 12 mini display, but it's also $300 cheaper.
Have you tried the iPhone 12 mini?