I don’t get why you’d want a smaller phone unless you’re looking to get one in a flip-phone style form factor. I’d be down for that. I miss being able to accurately text from my pocket.
Most larger phones have a single-hand mode that gives you kind of a picture-in-picture of the screen itself.
Are you stupid…? You still have to hold the phone in one hand. One-handed mode doesn’t change the physical width of the phone.
Galaxy S3 was comfortable to chat and surf. One or two words less per line but it fit in your pocket and your hand didn’t get tired from the weight.
I went S2 -> S5 -> S8+ -> Note 10+ -> S23 Ultra
Never really felt my phone was too big, though there are times where I’ve got a show to go to and wish I had a cheap flip phone to fall back on. The older phones seemed fine at the time until I realized how much better the bigger screens were. I’m not sure I’d want one bigger than the S23 Ultra, unless it folded out to a tablet.
Because I don’t want this giant thing in my pocket that’s also hard to hold, let alone use one handed.
I don’t get why you’d want a smaller phone
Being able to hold the phone comfortably and securely in your hand is really important for me. I’d love to be able to reach the vast majority of the screen without having to shuffle the phone in my hand or use two hands. I very rarely watch any videos on my phone, or play any games that require a large screen.
My wifes iPhone 12 Mini is a perfect size.
What are you on about? Just because someone is in a minority doesn’t mean their preferences or desires are invalid. Infeasible maybe, but not invalid. There are all sorts of products made for people in a minority of some kind. I can’t imagine left handed versions of common right handed objects are an extremely lucrative market, but there are products that exist for those minorities.
Plus it’s not like minorities or majorities are ever static, things evolve and change over time. If no one ever voiced an opinion, how would anything ever change?
You can keep crying about people stating a preference, and I’ll be sure to keep reminding you they are as free say what they want as you are.
What are you on about? Just because someone is in a minority doesn’t mean their preferences or desires are invalid. Infeasible maybe, but not invalid. There are all sorts of products made for people in a minority of some kind. I can’t imagine left handed versions of common right handed objects are an extremely lucrative market, but there are products that exist for those minorities.
Plus it’s not like minorities or majorities are ever static, things evolve and change over time. If no one ever voiced an opinion, how would anything ever change?
You can keep crying about people stating a preference, and I’ll be sure to keep reminding you they are as free say what they want as you are.
I agree with you except the headphone jack part. My Bluetooth headset is great, but losing the convenience of using a non-battery device and not worrying about the battery life really is a great loss. I’m so glad my steam deck and switch have a headphone jack.
Much as I like Bluetooth, it’s another thing to charge, has lower sound quality than wired unless you can afford LDAC, and other technical and real life reasons it seems your low quality privileged ass can’t comprehend.
Read a book, truly embarrassing to read how you think.
I just want a phone that I can use with one hand and not fucking drop the thing trying to type something on the other side of the screen.
Wow, what a low-quality take. See if your doctor can prescribe something to spontaneously regenerate some brain cells so you can imagine:
- carrying a shopping bag in one hand and trying to see where to take it thanks to the smaller phone in the other
- holding the brake lever on your bicycle and entering a new address
- smaller screens mean less illumination area, meaning longer battery life
- smaller screens costing less to produce, thus cheaper phones
Gotta suck to be so unimaginative lol.
Bigger screens make it easier to use as my main computer, thank you.
I definitely think Apple and Samsung can do a smaller premium phone if they want to as Apple makes the lion’s share of profits in the industry and Samsung is the only other manufacturer that makes a significant amount of profit. Heck Samsung can probably do a smaller midrange phone as well. I do not think it makes sense for other manufacturers as they make 3% profit and targeting a very vocal but demanding minority isn’t going to help them improve that.
Small phone users should also temper their expectation, I saw a lot of comments from people saying they didn’t get the iPhone mini because they expected the Pro Max’s specs in the mini form factor. They have to understand that the cameras on the biggest flagships occupy a lot of space and it isn’t feasible to bring it to a smaller form factor. Increasing the thickness might help with the battery but that’s about the only component that benefits with an increase in one dimension.
The S23 and S24 are solid phones at a regular size. So Samsung already do normal sized flagships. It’s the mid-low range that is lacking, they are all oversized in that price range, so people don’t have much choice but to buy an oversized phone.
Yeah they’re regular sized, you could consider the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro as regular sized as well. I think they could probably do a smaller phone about the size of the iPhone 12/13 mini as well if they wanted to. However I’m not sure if they’ll do it since the S22 is their smallest phones since the S10e and they haven’t gone smaller than that unless you go all the way back to the S4 (which itself has a similar width to the S10e). I understand why they wouldn’t do it because it seems the people who want an iPhone 5S to iPhone mini sized phone are extremely vocal but that doesn’t seem to translate to numbers in real life.
People would probably buy smaller phones if given the correct choices, I think the iPhone 15 size is good yeah. iPhone is often a fashion statement, so people usually want the highest end they can get and manufacturers tend to put more features in their bigger more expensive models.
There’s no options in the mid-range for smaller phones, most are over 6.5 inches. So people are forced into buying them, there’s definitely a large market for small phones, but manufacturers force them into larger models. I suspect they are easier/cheaper to make, so that’s what we get. Also bigger numbers = better right, so they’d rather crank the marketing on battery, screen etc.
They have to understand that the cameras on the biggest flagships occupy a lot of space and it isn’t feasible to bring it to a smaller form factor.
Not… Really… Sure it makes some difference, but the much more constraining factor is the money. Cameras arent that big, but they’re one of the priciest pieces of hardware in the device.
The problem is more that they keep trying to sell small phones at cheaper price points. So they end up with much worse screens, socs, and cameras so they perform like shit. People don’t want a small phone because they don’t care about their phone. People want small phones because the standard size is fucking huge. They need to make a high-ish tier small phone instead of low tier small phone that performs like the 50 Walmart shit.
Not… Really… Sure it makes some difference, but the much more constraining factor is the money. Cameras arent that big, but they’re one of the priciest pieces of hardware in the device.
There’s isn’t enough physical space for three sensors on a smaller phone especially if it’s the size of the iPhone mini. They can fit them on a 6.1-6.2 inch device, that’s why the S24 and iPhone 15 Pro have them. However the 16 Pro is supposedly getting larger because it’s getting a larger sensor for 5x optical zoom. If you look at a periscope lens, it needs a substantial amount of extra width as well. A teardown of any recent flagship reveals that camera modules occupy more space than they did if you look at tearsowns from three or four years back. This makes sense because the sensor itself is increasing in size and the size needs to go up both length and width wise to maintain the aspect ratio of the sensor. Heck in some cases like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and Oppo Find X7 Ultra, the camera modules occupy more space than the rest of the motherboard.
The problem is more that they keep trying to sell small phones at cheaper price points.
The iPhone mini was cheaper but it had pretty much the same specs as the regular iPhone except for wireless charging speed iirc. Sales were much lower than the regular model despite that (around or less than 5% of total iPhone 12 and 13 sales). If Apple couldn’t make a smaller phone sell particularly well, I doubt anyone else could.
There’s isn’t enough physical space for three sensors on a smaller phone especially if it’s the size of the iPhone mini
I wouldn’t go as far as to claim that “more cameras” is the complaints being made here. Sure, telephotos make sense as things that take up more space. But most people are using them for like 1 in 50 shots or something. I have an extremely hard time believing that someone would genuinely notice the difference unless they’re an extreme case or they’ve been told the other ones are better. Within reasonable effective focal lengths, these are pretty negligible in the sizes we’re talking about.
If Apple couldn’t make a smaller phone sell particularly well, I doubt anyone else could.
I hard disagree with this. Apple is literally the worst company to try to make this shit work. Apple’s core selling point is the status symbol of it all. People trying to show off having the flashiest phone are not going to buy a product being touted as a half baked smaller and cheaper version of something else. Their entire marketing was about it being mini. Apple customers are not the core audience for something like this, and Apple marketed it as exactly what people disliked about small phones.
around or less than 5% of total iPhone 12 and 13 sales
I find it more surprising that this was below expectations than I do that only 5% of people bought a smaller phone. I doubt much more than 1 in 20 people really is after a smaller phone. I’m sure they exist, but based on the people I know and the number of people I’ve heard interested in smaller phones, I’d estimate it more like 1 in 20 to 1 in 40. It’s not for most people by any means. But 1 in 20 is still a decent number of people.
Small phone users should also temper their expectation
Every time there is a small phone thread here or on reddit most of the comments are from people complaining that there is no small phone with the equivalent features of their near 7-inch flagship. People do not seem to weigh size in the same way as other features and are not willing to make compromises for it. Small phone fans need to think seriously about how important and practical all their supposedly “essential” high end features actually are versus physical size. There have been plenty of chances to buy and own smaller phones in the past and these people didn’t buy them because they weren’t perfect. This is the result.
Yeah it’s strange some of them expect the exact same specs as the Pro or Ultra phone in a smaller form factor. Some sacrifices have to be made to fit components in a smaller form factor as you cannot overcome the laws of physics. I’ve seen many ridiculous comments saying manufacturers can fit the same cameras and all the sensors along with a bigger battery if they made the phone thicker. It’s almost as if they expect the bigger phone to get neutered to maintain parity.
I think he means normal sized phones, instead of the ‘phablets’ we are surrounded by now. I still think the ~6.1 inch screen is the perfect size.
6.1” is too big. I miss the 4.7-5.1” range that they had on the iPhone Mini for example.
Thats a small phone and I agree they are good too. But 6 is a good size imo, plenty of real estate and cant still be used with one hand.
I can’t use a 6" screen one handed, I doubt most women (who are half the population) can either.
I find for me it is half about the usability of thw phone one handed and the other half being pocketability. I don’t want to have to carry a man-purse just to be able to have my phone with me at all times. Front pocket of jeans is where i keep my phone and the pockets are not deep enough to contain the phone without pressing into my hips when i sit. Keeping the phone in the back pocket is just inviting theft.
I just want another Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact with updated specifications.
For me, it’s about width, not screen size.
My current phone is 6.1", but it’s only 68mm wide, so it’s easy to hold one-handed and slips in & out of my pocket easily. (It’s a Sony Xperia 10 V).
I love everything about this phone except that there’s no NA version, so my phone is missing a couple of the cell bands from my service provider. In particular, the wide band, so I don’t get great reception in the middle of large buildings.
Other than that, it’s great. Lots of RAM so app swapping is quick, and the battery life is so good I have it set to only ever charge to 80% and I’ve only dipped down to 20% on very high usage days. My usual usage is 80-50% daily.
