Matt Bolton ponders the iPhone 12 mini's stumbling sales figures
MATT BOLTON is wondering if the iPhone 12 mini’s (reportedly) stumbling sales are because it’s just come at the wrong time
THE LATEST NEWS about the iPhone 12 mini implies that it may not have been the hit Apple was hoping for. The dinkiest iPhone seemed to finally offer something for those saying the continuing “embiggening” of handsets is leaving them behind, but a report from Nikkei Asia says that Apple recently cut its planned production by 70%.
That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s under-performed by 70% compared to Apple’s hopes, but there have been multiple reports since its release that the iPhone 12 mini has been experiencing more mini sales than the clamor around it would suggest, and they’ve created enough smoke to suggest a tiny fire.
Does this mean there isn’t really all that pent up demand for a smaller phone? Maybe, though I think it’s a phone that appeals more to people who don’t buy right away, so early sales don’t say much. I also think its audience likes to try things before buying, and the closure of stores for much of its life holds that back.
Even more, though, I suspect that the release of the iPhone SE 2 just six months before the iPhone 12 could be a big factor, because it also appealed to that audience. All the atmospheric energy of people looking for a new option already found its lightning rod, so when the iPhone 12 mini arrives, it finds that a lot of people had only just upgraded, and aren’t looking to buy phones again for a while.
And there’s the question of whether people who say they want a smaller phone would actually have bought one. Larger phones have been the only option, so that’s what they’ve been using, and that’s what they’re now used to. I don’t doubt that they mean it when they say they’d have liked a smaller one, and they’d totally buy it if Apple did one. But when you’re just saying you want something, you don’t have to give anything up to get it. If you’ve been using an iPhone X and its 5.8–inch screen, but saying you want to go smaller, and here comes the mini… can you really live with a smaller screen now you’re used to the big one?
In your mind, a smaller phone was more usable, but did you truly imagine it with a smaller screen, or just with whatever screen you’re used to? Was the perfect iPhone mini of your mind the best of both worlds, impossibly? Switching to the real iPhone mini means giving up the canvas you’ve begrudgingly gotten used to and probably quite enjoy for videos. You are now, as poker players say, “pot committed” to bigger phones. So when the choice comes, maybe you just get the iPhone 12 and stay the course. And so maybe the iPhone 12 mini turns out to be just a nice niche option, not a game–changer.