My cynical take is that small phones don't exist because they are not the product. Similar to vape pens the product is the addictive substance the device loads. In this case its apps and ads. A smaller screen probably negatively impacts KPIs on many levels, at Google/Apple/Meta/X and on down through the ecosystem.
I understand that Apple did not make enough money to make it worth their while to continue the iphone mini line. However, it does seem like there is a profitable business for someone there given how beloved it was/is.
I only traded out my iphone 12 mini just recently for an iphone 16 pro (likely the last apple product I will ever buy but thats another story) and aside from the camera it is basically the same. Just heavier, awkward to hold and slightly worse designed.
No major player wants a smaller screen because it has downstream impacts on the pipeline of addictive material and ad pixels they can stuff into ocular nerves.
The hard reality is that there is no PAYING market for such a device, because when it comes to the point-of-sale, most people still choose the normal-size device with better screen/battery/camera.
This is equivalent to something I called the "QWERTY paradox" more than a decade ago:
Back when the Smartphone market exploded, people disliked typing on a touchscreen and repeatedly stated that they want a device with a physical keyboard.
There was plenty of evidence, surveys, market studies, trend predictions, devices for these "Messaging-centric" use-cases were always part of this market-demand roster.
But whenever someone answered the call and built a Smartphone with QWERTY keyboard, the product failed commercially, simply because also to people claiming they want such a phone, at the point of sale they were less attractive than their slimmer, lighter, all-screen counterparts.
Every major vendor went through this cycle of learning that lesson, usually with an iteration like "it needs to be a premium high-spec device" --> (didn't sell) --> "ah, it should be mass-market" --> (also didn't sell).
You can find this journey for every vendor. Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola, Sony.
The same lessons were already learnt for small-screen devices: There was a "Mini" series of Samsung Galaxy, LG G-series, HTC One, Sony Xperia. It didn't sell, the numbers showed that it didn't attract additional customers, at best it only fragmented the existing customer-base.
Source: I work in that industry for a long time now
6" doesn't register as small to me at all lol. The HTC 8X was 4.3" and that was a "normal" sized phone for me.
I used the Palm Phone (PVG100) (3.3" screen) (basically the size of a credit card) [ https://www.ricklohre.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/dsc_097... ] as long as I could until it became too slow to use as software got slower and increasingly battery-hungry and I had to give it up last year.
The specs are more than strong enough to handle whatever I need on a daily basis. But I miss the slimmer size of the Palm Phone.
Right now I've pre-ordered this phone https://aiphor.com/products/bluefox-nx1-4-0-android-smartpho... with the 8gigram+128gig storage capacity. Has an even stronger cpu than the Soyes, but I am slightly worried about the resolution of 540x1168px because some elements may end up overlapping.
Even though it's 4", it has a tiny bezel so it's only slightly bigger than the Palm Phone, although a bit thicker cuz of a bigger battery. But still relatively slim, especially compared to the Soyes.
The best phone I ever had was a Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact. I would still be using it if it wasn't too slow to run modern versions of android.
This is one of those things that just makes me feel so out of touch with the rest of the world. Does everyone else have giant pockets and giant hands? Does everyone use their phone with two hands and carry a bag everywhere? Is it just a trend like small phones were a trend before smartphones? Why do people want these giant phones?
I'm writing this on a Unihertz Jelly Star which is tiny, and I consider it my "protest phone" at the lack of decent small phones.
A friend jokingly calls it my "microphone", another a "prison phone" (due to its size allowing for more easily smuggling in body cavities). Occasionally I go to mobile phone shops and ask if they have a case for it just for the fun of seeing the look on their faces when they see it (I don't actually want a case, and in fact it came with one which I threw in the bin).
Personally, I couldn't be happier with it.
Only problems: they don't do software updates; camera is poor; non-OLED screen.
In an ideal world I'd have a slightly bigger phone, but not too much bigger. I've grown very fond of this phone.
I got the iPhone 13 mini as a work phone for the sole reason of it being the smallest iPhone at the time. I too dislike the phone landscape nowadays with their ridiculous and ever increasing sizes.
My personal device is a Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, which I got because while it's huge when flipped, it's portable enough when it's closed. I can have it in my pocket without it falling out.. without it being annoying while i put on shoes etc...
I use its cover screen a fair amount too, to avoid having to flip it open, which is also why I got the ultra rather than the slightly smaller version.
I saw a post on this subject in the android subreddit back in 2019 [0] and it was clear that everyone had already accepted by then that the market was too small to sustain this. I too loved Sony's series of compact phones - the XZ1 Compact is still one of the best phones I've ever used.
It is only going to get worse. Most of us who were young adults when the iPhone was announced are in our 40s now, and presbyopia is a real thing. In a few years my daily QOL will be better served by a bigger phone and I suspect many people around my age are feeling the same thing. The "small electronic accessory I bring around" niche will be filled by smartwatches.
I want a thick clunky device without a screen that can run for 4-7 days without charging. Then i want 1) a normal size device, 2) a tiny one and 3) a tablet. These should be terminals, little more than a screen, a battery and some radio to communicate with the herefore mentioned brick that does all of the heavy lifting. It needs only 20-30 meter range. The brick may also feature a webserver captive portal with public bluetooth and wifi access.
Number one factor for me when buying a phone is how long is it going to last. I mean durability, camera quality, os updates. Will I still want to use/be using it in 5 years?
I cannot justify $700 as much as I _really want a smaller phone_. But _maybe if it was built to last_ I would be the customer and I would tell all my friends.
Currently use a Pixel 7a because it was cheap and OK. I was debating the iPhone 12 mini but it was already a little old, and I prefer Android.
I suspect, if others are like me, that those who want small phones also just want something that works and is a little minimal - not necessarily all the power best camera etc. To be clear, I _don't_ want one of those minimalist dumbphones, I want _a smartphone_ that's small Do y'all feel the same?
Propose a $500 small phone that's OK on specs but LASTS.
Since Google is about to brick my Pixel 6a with the battery botchering update, i find myself in the same struggle again i had when buying the 6a.
Basically you have to make compromises on performance and camera and then this was, what i came up with:
- Zenfone 10 (flagship with prices still above launch price (!), which soon gets no updates anymore)
- Unihertz Jelly Max (small, but thick and bad camera)
- Rakuten Hand 5G and Rakuten Mini (also bad camera and older Android)
- Balmuda Phone (which i really like, but also bad camera and discontinued, so probably not even security updates and no custom rom support)
- Bluefox NX1 (really tempting, but appearantly kind of bad build quality and no NFC)
All other options are even older phones. Samsung S25 line does exist, but i really like vanilla Android.
I think the price chart of the Zenfone DOES somehow indicates the existence of a market and i wonder if it would be big enough for a small niche player!?
Personally I am considering a pixel 8, which is the "smallest" of current phones, but it still really isn't small. And i don't see myself as a Google customer because of the battery topic...
I personally would have been more happy had Eric made a small android phone instead of the new pebble, but hey...
That was the "peak smartphone" era for me; lots of companies making slightly different variations on Androids, at relatively low prices, but almost all of them with the same basic set of practical features which are nearly extinct today. Now it seems all we get are faster CPUs and RAM, more (non-removable) storage and battery capacity, no headphone jacks, a very limited choice of screen sizes, and far too many cameras along with the obligatory unremovable spyware and locked-down OS.
Funnily enough, I don't consider the iPhone 12/13 mini miniature at all. Granted, my hands are quite small even for someone of my height (5'7"), but remember those times people made fun of the iPhone 5 and of how gigantic it felt compared to 4S? I don't think human hands have grown that much since then. And I still believe the 1st generation SE is the best smartphone Apple has ever released: a rectangular screen, no camera bumps, a fingerprint sensor (that is still faster than Face ID), a mini jack, light, affordable, etc.
Unfortunately this still hasn't happened yet. There are almost no good options for reasonable size Androids anymore. Zenfone 10 is pretty good, especially with the headphone jack, but it's already out of print and will be obsolete before long. And smaller would be nicer.
I have it since more than a year. I had the first one two weeks because I lost it as it fall through a hole in my pocket. So fix your pockets and buy this phone. I'm really happy with it :)
And didn't found bugs since I have it.
We've seen this story play out before. Every phone manufacturer has had the bright idea of introducing a small flagship. They spend a ton of money developing and marketing it. Internet people get excited. And when launched - no one buys it. They learn their lesson and move on.
What I find fascinating is that Apple's and [Android manufacturers]'s previous attempts at smaller phones aren't even worth maintaining after they assess sales.
In my mind, these companies are all so massive they can afford a little fragmentation for the obviously small market, with no meaningful impact to their sales numbers or profits.
On the iPhone minis, there's very obviously a market for them, but the market is so small compared to the market for "all iPhones" that it practically vanishes in comparison, which leads Apple to not bother. Is it really that expensive to maintain a more niche line for each generation?
I have on my desk, the Galaxy S8, iPhone SE (First generation), the iPhone 13 Mini, the iPhone 14 Pro and the Galaxy S22. I intentionally now choose and look for phones that are the smallest possible now (S25, iPhone 15pro or 16pro) etc
My favorite to take with me is the 13 Mini. Would love an iPhone 18 mini.
We are unfortunately a neglected part of the market.
I used to have a Pixel 5. As somebody who uses phones minimally (<10 min average screentime per day), but still wants utilities beyond a feature phone for special use cases (maps, translate, digital tickets, public transport, NFC payments), it was about as small as I needed it to be to tuck it away in my pocket for the whole day. It was also quite a nice form factor with a black stone-like back case, which didn't seem to scuff or attract fingerprints.
I had two of them. The first one lasted 2 years before the battery swelled up and I had to dispose of it. Google replaced it for free with another. Then eventually Google Pay stopped being supported on the second, since it was a few years beyond security updates.
After that I found no alternative within the Android ecosystem. I don't want to get into Apple products (despite minimal use, I did have the phone customised so that it was stripped bare in terms of apps and notifications, and had a launcher which I preferred over Google's native design), and every tech blog talking about small phones led back to Pixel 5, or one of the ones just after which was also out of sale and security coverage.
Even though they are sold at profit, I get the feeling phones are viewed by the industry as vehicles. Get one with a big screen into peoples hands, then keep riding on the payments for games, movies, TV and web browsing that follows that. As somebody who never used my phone for any of these things, I'm clearly not important to the market for the one-off payment of a new phone every 5/6 years.
Just as an FYI to everyone who thinks such products are financially "infeasible" - look at companies like Unihertz (or heck, even Framework). Niche categories can and do attract a small but devoted following.
Btw:
1. Unihertz recently launched a BlackBerry esque phone (titan 2), if anyone reading this is interested. (Not sponsored by them)
2. There are many forums (and I think r/smallphones on reddit) where you can find much more discussion on such topics if you're interested.
Nothing will make happier than ditching Apple and get a smaller Android phone. In fact the size of iPhone 5s was the only reason that had piqued my interest and I had migrated to the iPhones. Then I stayed for other (and important) reasons.
> Stock Android OS
Ah, no. I take that back. That is not going to be worth 700-800 just for the size! In fact take more and put it to a fight which tries to force Google to "decolonise" every aspect of this mobile OS and push for apps to go for alternative app stores.
But as long as Google has it claws and fingers and feet and palm and teeth (imagine every other organ) into my data (and also existence via sensors and what not) on an Android phone in every way possible (sometimes not even imaginable), such pervasive and entangled, that getting out of this Kafkaesque privacy nightmare means using a custom ROM that no OEM supports (or probably will every support) and half the app I use (including bank/payment/Govt apps) will stop functioning and it makes me feel like puking - even the thought of being tracked like that non-stop!
Until then sadly I will contribute to the trillions of Apple and participate in this cozy duopoly these companies have established and rather be in this Kafkaesque control and closed walled garden. It is sad.
So no, I am done with "Stock Android OS" trope at this point :(
The reality is - and it is a sad truth - such a phone in today's world can only exist as a vanity/niche product and hence even with high cost it will suffer from lack of support, abandoned update/upgrade promises, and a really really bad support experience unless it is released to "just few cities" (not even few countries) because this is going to attract such a small number of people!
I was hoping that the foldable phone market would fix this, but instead of making normal sized (huge) phones that fold into half the size, they made tablets that fold into normal sized (huge) phones!
I recently got a Samsung S25 and it's the best phone I've ever had. I went for the base model and the size is just perfect. It's a small enough phone that I barely feel I carry around all day. It's light and slim and has premium tier hardware so I don't miss out. Never paid more than £300 for a phone before, but I am more than happy with this one.
With a battery that can be swapped rapidly without tools. Bonus points for pogo pins like a Samsung XCover phone.
Smaller size means smaller battery, but that's mitigated by the above. I want utilitarian. I don't want a phablet. I want practical and unobtrusive. The smartwatch was meant to replace the phone, but doesn't hit the right notes for me.
I had filled out the form for this. Wish Eric stuck to this instead of the Pebble revival: it'd have a bigger market.
I don't understand how the market isn't considered big enough for any phone OEM: how can it be smaller than that of foldables? Or even if it is, isn't it still big enough, and shouldn't there generally be more sizes and form factors of phones?
It's as tho the car industry decided to only make 184" long SUVs (6.2-6.7" phones) and 200" long 3-row SUVs (foldables)... no other SUVs, no sedans/hatchbacks, no sports cars (much smaller and much lower volume). And different cars are actually hard to engineer and mass-manufacture the chassis and bodies for... in contrast a phone's HW is inherently more modular and mostly just the screen and battery need to be changed for each size.
Market wants big phones. The solution... look to the east. Phone accessories to manage big phones. Many women with small hands using finger loops (that double as kickstands), wrist straps, full body lanyards.
Convincing main brands to dump 100s of millions to cater to small phone crowd should be proven DOA by now. The minimalist EDC crowd is niche aberration, most people throughout civilization EDC was more cumbersome. Most people are simply happy carrying more shit around. Look at Stanley cups.
TBH 99% of big phone yucky crowd problems would be solved by a lanyard, but that's too goofy in the west. IMO what we need is better pockets. Front of legs or side belly of shirt. Have a little place to attach a chain like pocket watches. Fix for big phones is not a smaller phone, but better accessory/wardrobe.
I switched from a Pixel 3a to an iPhone 16 and it really bothers me that it's way too huge for everyday usage. Maybe I have extremely short thumbs but here's the maximum reach I have on the screen when I hold my phone "normally" in my hand: https://i.postimg.cc/Cx97jxLZ/iphone16reach.png - I can't reach the upper part of the screen at all, without doing finger-gymnastics or using my other hand. I'd love to switch to a phone that is 50-60%% of the size of the iPhone 16 but there are essentially no (modern) options for this. It's really a bummer :(
I also wanted one, then Samsung released the foldable phones. The Z Flip was exactly what I wanted. Now that the Fold is so thin, I want it as a small iPad. I feel that Samsung has solved the small Android phone problem in a different way with foldables
I signed up for this perhaps two years ago. I don't remember the update banner being present at the top which says it's officially moving forward. I didn't find anything more on that, what's the actual status now?
Wow, that exploded over night :D
It's nice to see, I am not alone.
With Android working on including a "desktop mode" where you can add a screen and HID devices, I sure hope that the phone screens will get smaller again.
Man this hits home. I'm a reasonably sized human, but there are almost no devices on the market outside of iPhones where I can reach from bottom right to upper left with 1 hand without shifting the phone around in my hand. I hate it.
I'd be willing to take less battery life to get something like this, but nearly everything that's anywhere close either has no NFC (which means mobile payments are out the door) or doesn't have 5G or just has such an awful camera/processor as to be basically unusable for many every-day tasks.
It was quite strange to read this title this morning as my 15 year old daughter just received her iPhone 13 mini yesterday from Swappie. She too was complaining that the android phones are too big for her little hands.
I tried all my reasoning skills to persuade her to stick with android, but ultimately she nagged me into getting a second hand one that is still way too expensive in my opinion.
Well it looks like she is right and this is popular opinion. Perhaps small Android phones not selling well is a marketing problem. I've never seen one advertised with size being a selling point.
I had a Samsung A3 (2016) which was almost the exact form factor of the iPhone Mini.
I loved it for being so small and light. The last few years it became too slow for regular use (and many apps refused to install) so I put it in airplane mode and used it as an mp3 player.
I'd still be using it today, but I lost it! I was very sad.
I also loved the LG K8 (2017), wonderful device. That one was a touch bigger, but had a really nice curved screen.
I used an iPhone SE (2016) until last year actually, which was even smaller.
It worked fine, until software updates made it useless. That's a recurring theme with my phones!
There is Unihertz, but their 5G model is crap. They also don't update their OS.
I believe the big manufacturers don't want to make a small phone (as other users have indicated) because of the big screen's addictiveness. Also, they can't fit a large battery in them so battery life would be a few hours with 1000mp 16k cameras.
I'd rather carry a 1" thick, 4" tall phone than a 0.3" thick 8" tall phone. No pants pockets look normal anymore, and it is even more awkward to walk with tight pants.
You'll probably have to compromise here a little too. Having "good" smartphone cameras is more about the software than the hardware (there's only so much you can do with small apertures and small sensors), and the flagships have huge R&D investments behind them.
I too want a small phone, and I'd be willing to settle for "passable" camera quality.
I want an Android phone that doesn't break. My iPhone is a beast, but I hate using it, I'm too used to the Android interface (especially the keyboard, I can't believe how bad the keyboard is on iOS). But every Android phone I've ever had gets dinged up very easily and eventually falls apart.
I bought an iPhone 15 and a Pixel 7 at the same time when I started a new job 2 years ago. I keep my work stuff on the iPhone. For the first year, I kept them in the same pocket and had them both everywhere with me. The Pixel within a few weeks was starting to look beat up. The iPhone still looks practically brand new.
Just last night, I got home, pulled my Pixel out of my pocket, and found a crack near the corner of the screen. Now the screen is glitching out on the bottom 15% of the screen. I didn't drop it, I didn't bump into anything. Regular pocket pressure while sitting in my car must have bent it and it buckled.
My wife has had similar experiences with Samsung phones.
If it weren't for the lack of good browsers on iOS, I'd put up with the shitty keyboard.
I would have bought the 13 mini except at the time the 13 Pro's 3x camera, 120hz and better battery was notable.
Now I kind of dread what will be available when it's time to finally upgrade this year. Am sure they could make a new mini that didn't seem as compromised, but now they think the size is non-viable.
Bring back when small was not a synonym for cheaper.
Imo the real problem here is being able to use a phone with one hand, UI standardization led both android and iphone unusable with one hand, so I'd argue we actually stopped research mobile touch interfaces. A smaller phone would still need you to stretch the thumb to the other side of the screen
I literally have dwarf hands, after experimenting with various form factors I've settled on using iPhone SE (4.7") as the main phone and a android (6.7") running FOSS stack as the secondary phone.
I get the "just works" with decent privacy aspect of the smaller iPhone, health benefits from Apple Watch and for anything requiring longer screen time, termux, shelter cloned apps etc. I use the bigger android (Infact I'm typing this on the excellent HN client Hacki from android).
Earlier I used to use Apple Watch with android using a tool I built[1] which now serves notifications from android to my iPhone.
I'm glad Eric is going ahead with the small phone.
I have a 13 mini and a case with a built-in 6800mAh battery. Without the case, this phone is low battery half way through the day. When watching videos, I do feel like 5.4" screen is a little bit small. Overall happy though. I wanted a smaller phone.
iPhone 12 mini lover and user checking in here. The haters will berate us for our choice stating that "no one wants a small phone", but that's a lie. Normal sized phones were never going to be instant day-one hits. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy to launch them during Covid, offer them 2 years, and say no one wants them.
Give them a permanent place in the lineup, treating phones like every other very personal device meant for humans. Small, medium, and large.
If you do that, and give people time to see exactly why 5.42 screens are superior to 6.1"+ sizes, then I think the numbers will start to change from what we saw with the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini, which were both launched when people were less on the go than in 100 years.
I want a Linux phone based on open source hardware. I gave up an iPhone for Android then switched to Pixels. My current Pixel 7 will be my last Google phone. I want out of the surveillance economy. I want AI assistance as badly I want a hole in the head.
I carry an 8 inch tablet (fits in a jacket pocket) and do most of my mobile web, email, podcast listening etc. on that, using my phone as a hotspot. Can't buy a new 8 inch tablet with a fingerprint reader. Got a couple of 2nd hand ones on eBay and will soon look at putting LineageOS on them (they have out of date versions of Android).
I remember when people complained that the iphone 6 was ridiculously big ... I'll keep my 12mini until it dies. Then I might buy another 12mini on ebay. I don't edit videos on my phone That's what desktops are for.
Theory: I prefer the iPhone mini because my hands are bigger. I think some people with smaller hands care less because they aren’t losing as much control as I am when the phone is bigger, not as much of a ratio difference.
Tha sad truth is that small screens don't work anymore, because apps are all tailored for bigger screens. I noticed this when I had an iPhone mini. It just did not work right. The UIs that are supposed to be surrounding the main part just cover too much. The range is from mildly annoying to completely blocked.
Really sad, because the device was physically very practical, and I don't really need such a big screen, just smart UIs like we used to have, that don't cram the screen full of every feature of every PM that ever worked at the company.
I'm still using a 2013 LG G2 (SD800) and can't find a single device that I can switch to. The compact size is just perfect. iPhone 5/s/e was also pretty good but apple killed them with updates :/
I busted out my old 4S, and the fit//finish,, materials, and just how nice it is to hold in your hand and operate are still really nice. Would love to fill it with modern guts.
We see those posts regularly about people wanting a flagship small phone, but I see two options:
- either the market is dysfunctional, and the niche of people wanting those devices does not meet the smartphone offer.
- or the market is even smaller than what they think, making it unsustainable.
Both can be solved with time and patience (waiting for this to happen as conditions change) — or by voting with your wallet and making this requirement have priority over others (security, updates, quality, performance, compatibility, etc.).
This resonates strongly. The Pixel 7 is my current holdout due to its 'acceptable' size, even though it's not exactly "mini".
It's a shame to see manufacturers like Asus move away from compact form factors, as I'd have been an immediate buyer for a smaller ZenFone.
The market's push towards larger devices is making e-ink 'dumb' phones increasingly appealing for me.
All this is available on China market. Go buy there. Everyone always makes this post when they can just buy Chinese phone. Go get a Soyes or something.
My god... are we really at the point where even in the "nice to have specifications" people don't put a headphone jack anymore? Did the phone companies actually succeed at spreading apathy towards the headphone jack?
I want a reliable e-ink phone. Minimal phone is good but flaky to the point that it is annoying.
Odd UX that can't be configured (and no idea why). For example, if you touch the power button, it'll unlock and wake up the phone. There's no way to turn that off and require a click. Other android phones can but not minimal. like what the hell was going through their decision making process?
My iPhone 12 Mini's camera just broke (the zoom is failing..) I have been poking around for any solution that is around the same size. The best answer is generally never-heard-of companies that pop new phone models out and no certainty as to how long they'll last or be supported. That's on top of having to switch platforms (again).
I'm resigned to getting a new iPhone in Sept - reluctantly.
I gave up on finding a <6" with my requirements (audio jack, microSD, USB-C display) and can use my 6.1" Xperia 5 III reasonably well with one hand using a MomoStick. Other smartphone ring attachments exist but this one acts as a stand as well.
As a fellow small phone enjoyer, this speaks to my soul. The big phone trend feels like it’s being driven by media consumption and spec sheet flexing rather than actual usability. One-handed operation? Pocketability? Those used to matter!
I'm very happy with my Unihertz Jelly Max aside from the camera being not great. I think it's the smallest it can reasonably be (62.7mm wide) while still having its touchscreen keyboard be usable and because it's fairly thick it actually feels good to hold in my hands and I don't need to stick one of those silly pop sockets on the back.
Samsung's S-series (without plus or ultra or edge or whatever) is basically this. Not quite as small as an iPhone mini, but just about small enough to be ok for me. Shouldn't be any bigger though (especially not wider!). For me the width is the big issue with big phones. It just feels uncomfortable in the hand then.
I was using Xperia XZ1 compact (4.6") and then moved to Vivo X70 pro+ (6.9") and it's so much easier for the eyes and typing. Yes, it's not the most convenient thing to carry around but I'd rather have less eye strain and typos.
Also I think China makes 3-4" android phones but they're mostly a joke spec wise
I'm a convert on this topic. I went from wanting a small phone to being unable to wait to ditch mine.
Like the OP, I switched from Android (Pixel 3a) to an iPhone SE 3 specifically for the smaller form factor. After using it for over a year, I've found the trade-offs in battery life and camera quality are too significant for my daily use.
These limitations aren't an issue when I'm at home or my desk with easy access to a charger. However, they become acute the moment I'm out for the day. For example, using GPS for navigation or connecting Bluetooth accessories becomes a liability. I can't rely on the phone to last. Also, photos are noticeably more pixelated, and the quality drop-off is clear compared to larger, contemporary phones.
This thread is evidence that the niche for small phones exists. But it's for people willing to accept these compromises by carrying a dedicated camera, a power bank, and using wired peripherals. For me and as the market suggests for most consumers, small phones just doesn't work out as reliable all-in-one devices. I'll probably wait till early next year to pick up one of the new iPhones after they iron out the initial kinks.
There are many such phone sellers in China—you can find them in the second-hand market. But I feel like all the internal parts have been replaced. It may look like an iPhone on the outside, but the components inside are probably no longer original.
I have an xperia compact phone I bought for $50 in Japan. It's a bit slow, but I don't do much on it other than jot down notes, maps, photos (the lens is a bit broken so it creates a cool lens flare effect), and messaging. Fits nicely in my pocket and hand. A giant phone just seems so silly to me.
Switched from my iPhone 13 mini to a Qin F21 Pro.
I will buy phones like this as long as I can ! It was a pain to setup but it works well for what I want (having a smartphone in Canada)
I want an iPhone Mini-sized iPhone! You can’t buy them anymore and now I have a big phone!
A weird correlation I’ve observed is that many tech savvy designer folks have iPhone mini’s. I think partly because they do their main work on a computer and don’t lean on their phones as much.
"My goal here is to rally other fans of small phones together and put pressure on Google/Samsung/anyone to consider making a small phone." 41k people is impressive, but that doesn't move the needle for any of these companies by a long long shot
I think a squat format like 4:5 would be much more practical than 9:16 or whatever most phones are. It's unfortunate that's the format that's come to dominate, especially when you consider the rise of vertical video.
Silly question: how hard would it be to find some manufacturer in China, that could manufacture several hundreds or thousands of low-mid range devices, of iPhone SE size or similar? Would be great to have ability to run PostmarketOS.
It is simply more difficult to cram the specs into a smaller form factor and they sell for less. A loose-loose situation. The same is happening in the tv market. 32” is disappearing because it’s more expensive to build smaller 4k displays.
Forget Apple sizes, I want a 3-4 inch sqaure (4:3) phone. Preferrably with a keyboard that folds or slides out. Something I can use with one hand or two and not have to switch to two hands to tap an upper corner.
i get it. i want one of those. the problem is that most cellphones are not actual cellphones, they are entertainment machines. they are a pocket tv / social media feed place. most usage for my normal friends is for that.
By the way, Apple is horribly behind in this area. It is time for them to realize that not everybody wants the same form factor. And people are getting bored by Apple's run-of-the-mill designs.
HTC magic was just about that size ! (and it ran whooping Android up to 1.6 I believe).
It was a 2nd publicly available android phone, right after the HTC with Dream.
Dream phone: Underclocked Samsung25 internals, iPhone SE design/dimensions, at least 90hz OLED panel, 1 back decent camera, 1 front too. 3A battery. Preferably an extenal SD card slot.
> "But whenever someone answered the call and built a Smartphone with QWERTY keyboard, the product failed commercially, simply because also to people claiming they want such a phone, at the point of sale they were less attractive than their slimmer, lighter, all-screen counterparts."
The slab form factor is excellent industry design; modern efforts to integrate a hardware-keyboard, i. e. in a non-detachable way, are quite frankly daft. It buys the worst of both worlds: added complexity and error-proneness, more (dead) weight, awkward handling, harder maintainability/repairability, etc.
The form factor that was represented by Psion-machines such as the 3- or 5-series was great at the time, but is now obsolete, as evidenced by Planet Computers' recreations. Integrated sliders (e. g. F(x)tec) are only marginally better.
Technically, the solution of course is very elegant and simple:
1. Slab-form factor UMPC/smartphone
2. Corresponding detachable (as "attachable folder"), roughly Psion 5-sized keyboard a similar
3. Small "click-in" keyboard dock à la Pinephone keyboard or a
4. Detachable slider
But that is indeed just one variable in the whole equation; there's a whole set of features I consider essential for a smartphone- or UMPC-like device that one doesn't find anymore.
The idea that nobody wants a small phone seems odd to me when Asus Zen Fone 10 is extremely rare and the iPhone 13 mini only exists in retail as refurbs.
Mobiles are made by Asian companies to Asian tastes. They like big screens so that's what we get. The two exceptions are apple iPhones and Google pixel. The two American companies making phones for American tastes. Shame as the old 4.5" mobiles had such large bezels they could have accommodated 6" modern screens...
I love mini phones too but how naive do you have to be to trust a random page over an actual phone manufacturer? I can get a new pixel at 500$, install GrapheneOS on it, and call it secure enough. I wish google would make mini-pixel versions, same as apple does with SE
I wish there was a phone, preferably with buttons (bb q10 like), that can run WhatsApp, banking app and Apple Pay (or whatever android version is). Also it should be running these stupid government apps. And music please... preferably with 3.5mm jack so I can connect my nice headphones.
This phone can have mediocre camera.
I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)
(smallandroidphone.com)456 points by asimops 16 July 2025 | 684 comments
Comments
I understand that Apple did not make enough money to make it worth their while to continue the iphone mini line. However, it does seem like there is a profitable business for someone there given how beloved it was/is.
I only traded out my iphone 12 mini just recently for an iphone 16 pro (likely the last apple product I will ever buy but thats another story) and aside from the camera it is basically the same. Just heavier, awkward to hold and slightly worse designed.
No major player wants a smaller screen because it has downstream impacts on the pipeline of addictive material and ad pixels they can stuff into ocular nerves.
This is equivalent to something I called the "QWERTY paradox" more than a decade ago:
Back when the Smartphone market exploded, people disliked typing on a touchscreen and repeatedly stated that they want a device with a physical keyboard.
There was plenty of evidence, surveys, market studies, trend predictions, devices for these "Messaging-centric" use-cases were always part of this market-demand roster.
But whenever someone answered the call and built a Smartphone with QWERTY keyboard, the product failed commercially, simply because also to people claiming they want such a phone, at the point of sale they were less attractive than their slimmer, lighter, all-screen counterparts.
Every major vendor went through this cycle of learning that lesson, usually with an iteration like "it needs to be a premium high-spec device" --> (didn't sell) --> "ah, it should be mass-market" --> (also didn't sell).
You can find this journey for every vendor. Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola, Sony.
The same lessons were already learnt for small-screen devices: There was a "Mini" series of Samsung Galaxy, LG G-series, HTC One, Sony Xperia. It didn't sell, the numbers showed that it didn't attract additional customers, at best it only fragmented the existing customer-base.
Source: I work in that industry for a long time now
I used the Palm Phone (PVG100) (3.3" screen) (basically the size of a credit card) [ https://www.ricklohre.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/dsc_097... ] as long as I could until it became too slow to use as software got slower and increasingly battery-hungry and I had to give it up last year.
Right now I have a Soyes S10Max, which has a 3.5" screen (same screen size as the original iPhone), but it's kinda chunky. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRZ47T53?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_...
The specs are more than strong enough to handle whatever I need on a daily basis. But I miss the slimmer size of the Palm Phone.
Right now I've pre-ordered this phone https://aiphor.com/products/bluefox-nx1-4-0-android-smartpho... with the 8gigram+128gig storage capacity. Has an even stronger cpu than the Soyes, but I am slightly worried about the resolution of 540x1168px because some elements may end up overlapping.
Even though it's 4", it has a tiny bezel so it's only slightly bigger than the Palm Phone, although a bit thicker cuz of a bigger battery. But still relatively slim, especially compared to the Soyes.
Front comparison: https://preview.redd.it/dtwnubx05scf1.png?width=3840&format=...
https://preview.redd.it/s2391amd7hbf1.png?width=320&crop=sma...
Will see!
https://blog.bschwind.com/2025/01/11/the-original-iphone-se-...
A friend jokingly calls it my "microphone", another a "prison phone" (due to its size allowing for more easily smuggling in body cavities). Occasionally I go to mobile phone shops and ask if they have a case for it just for the fun of seeing the look on their faces when they see it (I don't actually want a case, and in fact it came with one which I threw in the bin).
Personally, I couldn't be happier with it.
Only problems: they don't do software updates; camera is poor; non-OLED screen.
In an ideal world I'd have a slightly bigger phone, but not too much bigger. I've grown very fond of this phone.
My personal device is a Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, which I got because while it's huge when flipped, it's portable enough when it's closed. I can have it in my pocket without it falling out.. without it being annoying while i put on shoes etc...
I use its cover screen a fair amount too, to avoid having to flip it open, which is also why I got the ultra rather than the slightly smaller version.
There are some decent small Android phones, if you're willing to buy non-mainstream brands. Take a look at:
https://www.reddit.com/r/smallphones/
It is only going to get worse. Most of us who were young adults when the iPhone was announced are in our 40s now, and presbyopia is a real thing. In a few years my daily QOL will be better served by a bigger phone and I suspect many people around my age are feeling the same thing. The "small electronic accessory I bring around" niche will be filled by smartwatches.
[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/dijok5/is_there_a_... (how quaint the prices look, a mere 6 years on)
It's OK if they just make one every couple of years. But please: at least every couple of years.
I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31411191 - May 2022 (1053 comments)
I cannot justify $700 as much as I _really want a smaller phone_. But _maybe if it was built to last_ I would be the customer and I would tell all my friends.
Currently use a Pixel 7a because it was cheap and OK. I was debating the iPhone 12 mini but it was already a little old, and I prefer Android.
I suspect, if others are like me, that those who want small phones also just want something that works and is a little minimal - not necessarily all the power best camera etc. To be clear, I _don't_ want one of those minimalist dumbphones, I want _a smartphone_ that's small Do y'all feel the same?
Propose a $500 small phone that's OK on specs but LASTS.
Basically you have to make compromises on performance and camera and then this was, what i came up with: - Zenfone 10 (flagship with prices still above launch price (!), which soon gets no updates anymore) - Unihertz Jelly Max (small, but thick and bad camera) - Rakuten Hand 5G and Rakuten Mini (also bad camera and older Android) - Balmuda Phone (which i really like, but also bad camera and discontinued, so probably not even security updates and no custom rom support) - Bluefox NX1 (really tempting, but appearantly kind of bad build quality and no NFC)
All other options are even older phones. Samsung S25 line does exist, but i really like vanilla Android. I think the price chart of the Zenfone DOES somehow indicates the existence of a market and i wonder if it would be big enough for a small niche player!?
Personally I am considering a pixel 8, which is the "smallest" of current phones, but it still really isn't small. And i don't see myself as a Google customer because of the battery topic...
I personally would have been more happy had Eric made a small android phone instead of the new pebble, but hey...
https://www.gizchina.com/2013/11/07/jiayu-g5-unboxing-hands-...
https://www.gizchina.com/2013/09/18/exclusive-hands-video-st...
https://www.gizmochina.com/2013/09/22/teardown-picture-jiayu...
That was the "peak smartphone" era for me; lots of companies making slightly different variations on Androids, at relatively low prices, but almost all of them with the same basic set of practical features which are nearly extinct today. Now it seems all we get are faster CPUs and RAM, more (non-removable) storage and battery capacity, no headphone jacks, a very limited choice of screen sizes, and far too many cameras along with the obligatory unremovable spyware and locked-down OS.
Any other current gen recommendations?
I recommend the pixel 4a 5g with LineageOS installed, or the Q9 mini.
I have it since more than a year. I had the first one two weeks because I lost it as it fall through a hole in my pocket. So fix your pockets and buy this phone. I'm really happy with it :) And didn't found bugs since I have it.
In my mind, these companies are all so massive they can afford a little fragmentation for the obviously small market, with no meaningful impact to their sales numbers or profits.
On the iPhone minis, there's very obviously a market for them, but the market is so small compared to the market for "all iPhones" that it practically vanishes in comparison, which leads Apple to not bother. Is it really that expensive to maintain a more niche line for each generation?
Quick search for just display size found these 10 phones released after 2023: https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2023&fDisplay...
My favorite to take with me is the 13 Mini. Would love an iPhone 18 mini.
I used to have a Pixel 5. As somebody who uses phones minimally (<10 min average screentime per day), but still wants utilities beyond a feature phone for special use cases (maps, translate, digital tickets, public transport, NFC payments), it was about as small as I needed it to be to tuck it away in my pocket for the whole day. It was also quite a nice form factor with a black stone-like back case, which didn't seem to scuff or attract fingerprints.
I had two of them. The first one lasted 2 years before the battery swelled up and I had to dispose of it. Google replaced it for free with another. Then eventually Google Pay stopped being supported on the second, since it was a few years beyond security updates.
After that I found no alternative within the Android ecosystem. I don't want to get into Apple products (despite minimal use, I did have the phone customised so that it was stripped bare in terms of apps and notifications, and had a launcher which I preferred over Google's native design), and every tech blog talking about small phones led back to Pixel 5, or one of the ones just after which was also out of sale and security coverage.
Even though they are sold at profit, I get the feeling phones are viewed by the industry as vehicles. Get one with a big screen into peoples hands, then keep riding on the payments for games, movies, TV and web browsing that follows that. As somebody who never used my phone for any of these things, I'm clearly not important to the market for the one-off payment of a new phone every 5/6 years.
Btw:
1. Unihertz recently launched a BlackBerry esque phone (titan 2), if anyone reading this is interested. (Not sponsored by them)
2. There are many forums (and I think r/smallphones on reddit) where you can find much more discussion on such topics if you're interested.
Get used to making calls on a TV tray, and walking around looking like a schlub in cargo shorts for the rest of your life.
Screen power draw and battery capacity scale as the square of the linear dimension. They largely cancel out.
However, all the other hardware are a fixed size so proportionally large phones have longer battery lives.
I can.
Nothing will make happier than ditching Apple and get a smaller Android phone. In fact the size of iPhone 5s was the only reason that had piqued my interest and I had migrated to the iPhones. Then I stayed for other (and important) reasons.
> Stock Android OS
Ah, no. I take that back. That is not going to be worth 700-800 just for the size! In fact take more and put it to a fight which tries to force Google to "decolonise" every aspect of this mobile OS and push for apps to go for alternative app stores.
But as long as Google has it claws and fingers and feet and palm and teeth (imagine every other organ) into my data (and also existence via sensors and what not) on an Android phone in every way possible (sometimes not even imaginable), such pervasive and entangled, that getting out of this Kafkaesque privacy nightmare means using a custom ROM that no OEM supports (or probably will every support) and half the app I use (including bank/payment/Govt apps) will stop functioning and it makes me feel like puking - even the thought of being tracked like that non-stop!
Until then sadly I will contribute to the trillions of Apple and participate in this cozy duopoly these companies have established and rather be in this Kafkaesque control and closed walled garden. It is sad.
So no, I am done with "Stock Android OS" trope at this point :(
The reality is - and it is a sad truth - such a phone in today's world can only exist as a vanity/niche product and hence even with high cost it will suffer from lack of support, abandoned update/upgrade promises, and a really really bad support experience unless it is released to "just few cities" (not even few countries) because this is going to attract such a small number of people!
It doesn't have the Google Play Store but one can sideload Android apps onto it
Smaller size means smaller battery, but that's mitigated by the above. I want utilitarian. I don't want a phablet. I want practical and unobtrusive. The smartwatch was meant to replace the phone, but doesn't hit the right notes for me.
I don't understand how the market isn't considered big enough for any phone OEM: how can it be smaller than that of foldables? Or even if it is, isn't it still big enough, and shouldn't there generally be more sizes and form factors of phones?
It's as tho the car industry decided to only make 184" long SUVs (6.2-6.7" phones) and 200" long 3-row SUVs (foldables)... no other SUVs, no sedans/hatchbacks, no sports cars (much smaller and much lower volume). And different cars are actually hard to engineer and mass-manufacture the chassis and bodies for... in contrast a phone's HW is inherently more modular and mostly just the screen and battery need to be changed for each size.
Convincing main brands to dump 100s of millions to cater to small phone crowd should be proven DOA by now. The minimalist EDC crowd is niche aberration, most people throughout civilization EDC was more cumbersome. Most people are simply happy carrying more shit around. Look at Stanley cups.
TBH 99% of big phone yucky crowd problems would be solved by a lanyard, but that's too goofy in the west. IMO what we need is better pockets. Front of legs or side belly of shirt. Have a little place to attach a chain like pocket watches. Fix for big phones is not a smaller phone, but better accessory/wardrobe.
With Android working on including a "desktop mode" where you can add a screen and HID devices, I sure hope that the phone screens will get smaller again.
I'd be willing to take less battery life to get something like this, but nearly everything that's anywhere close either has no NFC (which means mobile payments are out the door) or doesn't have 5G or just has such an awful camera/processor as to be basically unusable for many every-day tasks.
I tried all my reasoning skills to persuade her to stick with android, but ultimately she nagged me into getting a second hand one that is still way too expensive in my opinion.
Well it looks like she is right and this is popular opinion. Perhaps small Android phones not selling well is a marketing problem. I've never seen one advertised with size being a selling point.
I loved it for being so small and light. The last few years it became too slow for regular use (and many apps refused to install) so I put it in airplane mode and used it as an mp3 player.
I'd still be using it today, but I lost it! I was very sad.
I also loved the LG K8 (2017), wonderful device. That one was a touch bigger, but had a really nice curved screen.
I used an iPhone SE (2016) until last year actually, which was even smaller.
It worked fine, until software updates made it useless. That's a recurring theme with my phones!
I believe the big manufacturers don't want to make a small phone (as other users have indicated) because of the big screen's addictiveness. Also, they can't fit a large battery in them so battery life would be a few hours with 1000mp 16k cameras.
I'd rather carry a 1" thick, 4" tall phone than a 0.3" thick 8" tall phone. No pants pockets look normal anymore, and it is even more awkward to walk with tight pants.
Someone pinch me awake when that happens, thanks.
> must have great low light performance
You'll probably have to compromise here a little too. Having "good" smartphone cameras is more about the software than the hardware (there's only so much you can do with small apertures and small sensors), and the flagships have huge R&D investments behind them.
I too want a small phone, and I'd be willing to settle for "passable" camera quality.
I bought an iPhone 15 and a Pixel 7 at the same time when I started a new job 2 years ago. I keep my work stuff on the iPhone. For the first year, I kept them in the same pocket and had them both everywhere with me. The Pixel within a few weeks was starting to look beat up. The iPhone still looks practically brand new.
Just last night, I got home, pulled my Pixel out of my pocket, and found a crack near the corner of the screen. Now the screen is glitching out on the bottom 15% of the screen. I didn't drop it, I didn't bump into anything. Regular pocket pressure while sitting in my car must have bent it and it buckled.
My wife has had similar experiences with Samsung phones.
If it weren't for the lack of good browsers on iOS, I'd put up with the shitty keyboard.
But I don't know why new innovative people are not getting into smartphone making.
Everyone is trying to make the next big software. But why that grit is missing to bring the variety into small hardware devices that target majority?
Or, is it not reaching people like me? Is it the lack of awareness?
Now I kind of dread what will be available when it's time to finally upgrade this year. Am sure they could make a new mini that didn't seem as compromised, but now they think the size is non-viable.
Bring back when small was not a synonym for cheaper.
They can be quite chunky but honestly not too bad
I get the "just works" with decent privacy aspect of the smaller iPhone, health benefits from Apple Watch and for anything requiring longer screen time, termux, shelter cloned apps etc. I use the bigger android (Infact I'm typing this on the excellent HN client Hacki from android).
Earlier I used to use Apple Watch with android using a tool I built[1] which now serves notifications from android to my iPhone.
I'm glad Eric is going ahead with the small phone.
[1] https://github.com/abishekmuthian/apple-watch-with-android
Give them a permanent place in the lineup, treating phones like every other very personal device meant for humans. Small, medium, and large.
If you do that, and give people time to see exactly why 5.42 screens are superior to 6.1"+ sizes, then I think the numbers will start to change from what we saw with the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini, which were both launched when people were less on the go than in 100 years.
Moved to a Pixel 2 and then to a Pixel 5. I'm happy with the 5, good size and good features, fast enough for what I want and battery is okay.
https://www.unihertz.com/collections/jelly-series
https://soyes.vip/en
https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-servo-mobile-phones.h...
They’re all kinda ass though
I carry an 8 inch tablet (fits in a jacket pocket) and do most of my mobile web, email, podcast listening etc. on that, using my phone as a hotspot. Can't buy a new 8 inch tablet with a fingerprint reader. Got a couple of 2nd hand ones on eBay and will soon look at putting LineageOS on them (they have out of date versions of Android).
Also, you can buy reasonably sized Android phones. They're still big-ish compared to say, 2008, but not huge considering the lack of bezel.
Really sad, because the device was physically very practical, and I don't really need such a big screen, just smart UIs like we used to have, that don't cram the screen full of every feature of every PM that ever worked at the company.
I busted out my old 4S, and the fit//finish,, materials, and just how nice it is to hold in your hand and operate are still really nice. Would love to fill it with modern guts.
- either the market is dysfunctional, and the niche of people wanting those devices does not meet the smartphone offer.
- or the market is even smaller than what they think, making it unsustainable.
Both can be solved with time and patience (waiting for this to happen as conditions change) — or by voting with your wallet and making this requirement have priority over others (security, updates, quality, performance, compatibility, etc.).
The market's push towards larger devices is making e-ink 'dumb' phones increasingly appealing for me.
Odd UX that can't be configured (and no idea why). For example, if you touch the power button, it'll unlock and wake up the phone. There's no way to turn that off and require a click. Other android phones can but not minimal. like what the hell was going through their decision making process?
I'm resigned to getting a new iPhone in Sept - reluctantly.
Also I think China makes 3-4" android phones but they're mostly a joke spec wise
Like the OP, I switched from Android (Pixel 3a) to an iPhone SE 3 specifically for the smaller form factor. After using it for over a year, I've found the trade-offs in battery life and camera quality are too significant for my daily use.
These limitations aren't an issue when I'm at home or my desk with easy access to a charger. However, they become acute the moment I'm out for the day. For example, using GPS for navigation or connecting Bluetooth accessories becomes a liability. I can't rely on the phone to last. Also, photos are noticeably more pixelated, and the quality drop-off is clear compared to larger, contemporary phones.
This thread is evidence that the niche for small phones exists. But it's for people willing to accept these compromises by carrying a dedicated camera, a power bank, and using wired peripherals. For me and as the market suggests for most consumers, small phones just doesn't work out as reliable all-in-one devices. I'll probably wait till early next year to pick up one of the new iPhones after they iron out the initial kinks.
https://www.duoqin.com/
A weird correlation I’ve observed is that many tech savvy designer folks have iPhone mini’s. I think partly because they do their main work on a computer and don’t lean on their phones as much.
- a 3.5mm jack
- fingerprint sensor on the back
and it's an immediate buy for me, (almost, but not really) regardless of price!
The Pixel 4 had a 5.6" screen and it feels like the local maxima of mobile phone design. Ran GrapheneOS perfectly too.
The small size and clean stock Android were the main reasons I bought this, and it's still a great phone.
By the way, Apple is horribly behind in this area. It is time for them to realize that not everybody wants the same form factor. And people are getting bored by Apple's run-of-the-mill designs.
The slab form factor is excellent industry design; modern efforts to integrate a hardware-keyboard, i. e. in a non-detachable way, are quite frankly daft. It buys the worst of both worlds: added complexity and error-proneness, more (dead) weight, awkward handling, harder maintainability/repairability, etc.
The form factor that was represented by Psion-machines such as the 3- or 5-series was great at the time, but is now obsolete, as evidenced by Planet Computers' recreations. Integrated sliders (e. g. F(x)tec) are only marginally better.
Technically, the solution of course is very elegant and simple:
1. Slab-form factor UMPC/smartphone 2. Corresponding detachable (as "attachable folder"), roughly Psion 5-sized keyboard a similar 3. Small "click-in" keyboard dock à la Pinephone keyboard or a 4. Detachable slider
But that is indeed just one variable in the whole equation; there's a whole set of features I consider essential for a smartphone- or UMPC-like device that one doesn't find anymore.
There are so many Android phone models, but not a single one that's a reasonable size?
I like the idea of the folding flip style phones (Galaxy Flip) though and hope Apple makes one of those!
That is another idea which apple didn't like.
I have multiple screen with me, so my 13 mini is great.
Pixel 9 (2024) = 6.3 inches.
I know the Pixel 9 is not that small, but is close and an excellent phone (base or Pro models, the XL is bigger).