The iPhone 12 mini did not sell well. Do you know what did? 12 Pro Max. Data from the analysts at CIRP earlier this year showed that Apple’s largest and most expensive iPhone decidedly sold its smallest (and cheaper) iPhone.
So when you hear reports that the iPhone 14 series will drop the mini in favor of another great model, it just makes sense. A large model at a lower price should sell well, even if it misses the Pro camera’s hardware.
Speculative iPhone 14 Pro Max rendering
The tentatively named iPhone 14 Max will have the same 6.7 ”screen as the Pro Max model, except with the same internal parts as the 6.1” iPhone 14, which in turn will share its screen size with the iPhone 14.
In fact, the two pairs can share more than the diagonal measurement, they can use the same panels, as Apple is expected to use 120Hz LTPO OLED panels on all four models.
The video below contains Jon Prosser from Home Tech talks about the iPhone 14 and the potential vanilla Max model (starting at 6:30, the first part of the video is dedicated to the ‘jelly effect’ on the new iPad mini).
Is this the end of the mini? As a premium device almost certainly, but that may not be the end of sub-6 inch iPhones. A new iPhone SE is on the way, and the 2020 model has similar dimensions as the mini. If Apple shrinks the frame and fits a slightly larger screen, the new SE can fill the gap left by the mini. It probably will not have the latest chipset or the best cameras, but the lower price point can improve the sales of small phones.
Anyway, the iPhone 14 series should bring a pretty big redesign as seen in these renditions of Prosser. Apple is expected to kill the notch in favor of a (probably side-mounted) fingerprint reader and a holed selfie camera. Of course (as Prosser himself admits) the renderings of the Apple Watch Series 7 did not match the actual product, so apply a healthy dose of skepticism. Especially since we are pretty much a whole year away from the launch of the iPhone 14.
