When the original iPhone 12 mini was launched in 2020, everyone including Apple expected it to be a smash hit. Now as the iPhone 15 range is about to be announced, there won’t be a new mini — and the old one that’s still been hanging on will surely go.
When the original iPhone 12 mini was launched in 2020, everyone including Apple expected it to be a smash hit. Now as the iPhone 15 range is about to be announced, there won’t be a new mini — and the old one that’s still been hanging on will surely go.
It was launched with a fanfare and high hopes, but the iPhone mini is likely to vanish this week without a mention. At least, Apple is not going to mention it, and Apple’s website is certain to be scrubbed of all details of it, outside of archived support documents.
For other people, though, the iPhone mini will be missed and it will be missed a lot. It just turned out that there weren’t enough people who felt that way, or at least not enough for them to buy.
Introducing the iPhone 12 mini
On October 13, 2020, Apple spent 28 minutes and 13 seconds drilling down into all of the details of the iPhone 12 — just the regular one, not the iPhone 12 Pro. Then came a little « one more thing » kind of announcement.
« But to add to all these big announcements, we also wanted to do something a little different, » said Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of iPhone Product Marketing. « Something only Apple would do. »
With a James Bond theme backing track, Drance then opened the kind of suitcase a spy might have, revealing another, smaller case inside. And then a smaller one inside that, Russian Doll style.
« This is iPhone 12 mini, » she said. « With its amazing size, it fits in the palm of your hand while still keeping the expansive edge-to-edge Super Retina XDR display. »
« With its compact size, the iPhone 12 mini has the exact same features as iPhone 12, » continued Drance. « You’re just choosing between two great sizes.
