Apple ought to make a brand new iPhone mini, and this is how I need it to look

Abstract

Silicon-carbon tech permits extra space-efficient batteries, which might resolve the largest grievance about mini fashions.
A brand new mini would additionally profit from extra power-efficient chip designs and dynamic show expertise.
However, Apple won’t be capable to discover room for a brand new mini in its lineup except it makes it a foldable.

One thing I discover fascinating — encouraging, even — is that whereas there have not been any new mini iPhones because the iPhone 13 mini, some persons are nonetheless clinging onto them for expensive life. These die-hards insist that life is healthier with a telephone beneath six inches, since you’ll be able to really use it with one hand. By no means thoughts that Minis are not state-of-the-art, and launched with weak battery life that is solely degraded over time — the followers are making it work within the title of their most popular kind issue. It is a small act of revolt, actually.

There isn’t any signal that Apple’s going to launch a brand new mini anytime quickly, because the one addition to the iPhone 17 lineup is rumored to be the iPhone 17 Air, emphasizing thinness as an alternative of display screen measurement. With current tendencies and technological developments, nevertheless, the time may very well be ripe to rethink the thought, maybe in time for the iPhone 18 or 19.

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The important thing breakthrough

Kiss battery complaints goodbye

A person holding the OnePlus 13 over an ocean.

Probably the most important growth is the arrival of silicon-carbon (Si-C) batteries. These are an evolution of the lithium-ion batteries we’re used to, however with an vital change — elevated power density. Which means it is doable to ship the identical quantity of power in a smaller battery pack, and even higher longevity from a standard-sized one.

We’re already seeing the fruits of this in some gadgets. The very best-known instance might be the OnePlus 13, which has a 6,000mAh capability. Whereas it is nonetheless finest to cost it in a single day, the product can legitimately make it two days with mild use. The identical is true of another Si-C telephones, that are being churned out by manufacturers like Oppo, Vivo, and Realme.

Model: OnePlus
SoC: Snapdragon 8 Elite
Show: 6.82-inch, 3168 × 1440 pixel decision (510ppi) 120Hz adaptive refresh
RAM: 12GB, 16GB

Si-C iPhones are solely a matter of time, and a brand new Mini could be the right use case.

In truth, what’s unusual in the intervening time is that Apple and Samsung have not adopted swimsuit. Apple skipped the expertise for the iPhone 16 collection, and appears poised to do the identical with the iPhone 17 lineup, given rumors about how weak the iPhone 17 Air’s battery life has been in testing. Samsung, in the meantime, was anticipated to make use of Si-C within the Galaxy S25 Edge, however selected to not, regardless of charging a premium over the S25+. In the meanwhile, each firms appear to suppose that clients care extra about thinness and weight than how lengthy their gadgets run.

Si-C iPhones are solely a matter of time, fortunately, and a brand new mini could be the right use case. A hypothetical iPhone 18 mini would nonetheless lag behind the common iPhone 18 in runtime — assuming each improve to Si-C — however it might nonetheless be a really sensible system, capable of go from wake-up to bedtime with no need mid-day refueling. Should you’re holding onto an iPhone 12 mini today, an early-afternoon charging session might be unavoidable.

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How else might a brand new iPhone mini enhance?

Miniaturization to the rescue

Person holding black iPhone 16e against a white background.

A brand new Mini might additionally make the most of progress in different areas too, equivalent to processor design. Apple’s major chip producer, TSMC, is rolling out a 2nm course of this 12 months — when you think about that the A15 Bionic processor within the iPhone 13 mini was constructed utilizing 5nm expertise, there’s potential for severe enhancements in element measurement and/or energy effectivity.

Each little bit counts whenever you’re making an attempt to compress a much bigger telephone design into the tiniest doable house.

One other factor you might rely on is Apple making an attempt to squeeze as a lot as doable into customized chips. Its first mobile modem, the C1, debuted on the iPhone 16e earlier this 12 months, and the corporate is allegedly engaged on an all-in-one wi-fi chip supporting Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and different protocols. If that occurs, it might bump effectivity up one other notch.

There’s potential for severe enhancements in element measurement and energy effectivity.

Apple may also be capable to shrink or utterly remove the digital camera notch, maximizing house on a small show (small by trendy requirements, anyway). Eliminating it might require utilizing under-display expertise, which has proved slightly flaky on competing {hardware} — but when there’s any firm that would make it work properly, it is in all probability Apple.

One other help to battery life could be the adoption of a 120Hz ProMotion show. That is mentioned to be coming to non-Professional iPhones for the primary time with the iPhone 17, and it issues past simply clean scrolling — the tech permits screens to drop to as little as 1Hz based mostly on content material, saving energy in some circumstances whereas enabling always-on features (equivalent to StandBy) in others. Conceivably, an iPhone 18 mini with AOD tech disabled might final for a really very long time… sufficient to skip in a single day plug-ins every now and then, I am going to guess.

An iPhone 16 Pro with the flash going off.

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What are the probabilities of a brand new iPhone mini?

Closing ideas

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 partly folded.

Sadly, I am not relying on it. A brand new Mini might sit in a wierd middleground in Apple’s future lineups, being costlier than an iPhone 18e, however with out the thinness benefit of an iPhone 18 Air. Alongside these strains, Apple appears newly re-committed to the thought of ultra-thin merchandise — simply have a look at the M4 iPad Pro, which was so skinny that it fueled worries a few second Bendgate (unfounded, fortunately). The corporate’s not going to shift focus away from the Air kind issue except the iPhone 17 Air is a whole catastrophe.

Niches nonetheless demand to be served, nevertheless.

Extra importantly, maybe, the smartphone trade usually has drifted away from screens beneath six inches. For no matter purpose, mini iPhones by no means bought properly, and the final flagship telephone of any form with sub-6 dimensions was the ASUS Zenfone 10. Compact telephones have turn out to be a distinct segment, with most buyers selecting bigger screens even when it means two-handed texting, or sometimes struggling to suit their telephones of their pockets.

Niches nonetheless demand to be served, nevertheless. One strategy Apple might take is constructing a clamshell foldable, akin to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 — this may allow one-handed texting from an exterior display screen, whereas conserving a much bigger major display screen out there for issues like YouTube and internet looking. It is such an apparent concept, actually, that the actual query could also be when it is coming, not if. The primary folding iPhone is predicted to be a book-style mannequin due in 2026, so we’re in all probability a few years out from a clamshell, not less than.