The Perfect iPhone

Hey, Turnis.

Not sure if you noticed, but the iPhone mini is having a moment.

In January, search traffic for the term "iPhone mini" peaked¹ – six times more search traffic than when the iPhone 13 Mini was released.

The traffic continued throughout the year, dwarfing interest in "iPhone Air".²

When the iPhone 17 was released, Luke Guillory's review for Esquire started by noting his devotion to the iPhone 12 Mini. "…as I love to tell people, I'm an iPhone Mini devotee. It's been half a decade since I last bought a phone, because I love my Mini."³

Commenting on the iPhone Air release for the Financial Times, Sarah O'Conner bemoaned the fact that there are no suitably sized iPhones to replace her (now discontinued) iPhone 13 Mini. "I don’t want a thinner phone. I want a smaller one." ⁴

In May, The Verge called the iPhone 13 Mini "the best phone ever made".⁵

I've been using the iPhone 13 Mini for a month now, replacing my iPhone 15 Pro. I'm a convert. It really is the best phone ever made.

But it could be even better.

There are only two changes I'd love to see in the next iPhone Mini:

1. USB-C
2. An Action button

Sure, a ProMotion display would be nice to have. And it would be fun to mess around with the full range of capabilities from Apple Intelligence. Who wouldn't love a better battery (just not at the cost of weight)?

But mostly, I want my iPhone to get out of the way. Disappear into my pocket, or even better, into my backpack, and only surface on the rare occasion it's truly needed.