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Why phones are so huge nowadays? How are you people carrying them? Oh how I wish for a compact sized phone, something like iPhone 13 mini, but with USB-C connec

by butz 1y ago

Why phones are so huge nowadays? How are you people carrying them? Oh how I wish for a compact sized phone, something like iPhone 13 mini, but with USB-C connector. And those camera bumps, don't get me started on those. If you cannot fit camera into phone, why not make whole device a bit thicker.

uncircle 1y ago
I am still angry at Apple for dropping the mini line. I know it wasn’t popular, but if there’s anyone that can afford having a line that “only” sells a few hundred thousand units it’s Apple. I guess that’s what happens when the company is run by a bean counter :(
karel-3d 1y ago
People are not buying small phones. If you want a small phone, the best thing are flip-phones, there is tons of them now.
- qwertfisch 1y ago
  These are not smartphones. You cannot do anything with them except phone, SMS, some alarms and make pictures with very crappy quality. So these are effectively just phones, like 20 years ago. They are not extensible by any app, just what the manufacturer adds for factory provided programs. I would be small (lightweight) phones. I cannot bare these 180–220g devices. If I want something heavy I buy a tablet.
  - karel-3d 1y ago
    No? Galaxy Z Flip is a smartphone. Razr is a smartphone.
- xorcist 1y ago
  > People are not buying small phones How can one buy what is not being manufactured? The few small-ish phones that have existed have mostly been cheap and underpowered.
  - 11mariom 1y ago
    > The few small-ish phones that have existed have mostly been cheap and underpowered. I would say that for last years it was quite the opposite… Asus Zenfone was a bit smaller, and few others… all of them being on the more pricey range. I do not remember anything <€500 worth buying… I remember having few years ago phone from "Note" series… and yet - it was smaller than "normal" nowadays.
barbs 1y ago
Agreed. I'm still hanging onto my 1st gen iPhone SE, there's been no worthy replacements.
supertrope 1y ago
The market has decided the benefit of a bigger battery and screen outweighs bigger size.
- qwertfisch 1y ago
  The market? The manufacturers or the people? Phones that were biggest size/weight only six or seven years ago are now not even available anymore. Why? I cannot imagine that all(!) people want phones that now weigh at least 180g (most even 200+g) and have huge displays. Do people need to play games all the time? I don’t. I just want a phone to support me with some helpful apps like train/bus timetables, play music, do a quick internet search, make a picture, do alarms and notify about things. Nothing fancy, and nothing where a really need a 7" display nor a 5Ah battery. When my current phone (Samsung A40) will die someday, I will be very sad as there is nothing today even remotely comparable to the compactness and usefulness of this device.
  - gruez 1y ago
    >The market? The manufacturers or the people? The latter, because AFAIK iPhone 12/13 minis sold rather poorly, and apple discontinued them.
qwertfisch 1y ago
You don’t even have to make it thicker. My Samsung A40 is less than 8mm thick. It has a FullHD display, 440dpi sharpness, weighs only 140g and is less than 145mm in length. The cameras support 16Mpx back and 25MPx front (not that it’s needed much). The quality is not the best, but very suitable. It has support for fingerprint, microsd, 3.5mm jack – everything necessary. (Only thing missing is esim, but that can be added by an adapter.) So it IS possible. The manufacturers just don’t WANT.

by butz 1y ago

uncircle 1y ago

I am still angry at Apple for dropping the mini line. I know it wasn’t popular, but if there’s anyone that can afford having a line that “only” sells a few hundred thousand units it’s Apple. I guess that’s what happens when the company is run by a bean counter :(

karel-3d 1y ago

People are not buying small phones. If you want a small phone, the best thing are flip-phones, there is tons of them now.

qwertfisch 1y ago
These are not smartphones. You cannot do anything with them except phone, SMS, some alarms and make pictures with very crappy quality. So these are effectively just phones, like 20 years ago. They are not extensible by any app, just what the manufacturer adds for factory provided programs. I would be small (lightweight) phones. I cannot bare these 180–220g devices. If I want something heavy I buy a tablet.
- karel-3d 1y ago
  No? Galaxy Z Flip is a smartphone. Razr is a smartphone.
xorcist 1y ago
> People are not buying small phones How can one buy what is not being manufactured? The few small-ish phones that have existed have mostly been cheap and underpowered.
- 11mariom 1y ago
  > The few small-ish phones that have existed have mostly been cheap and underpowered. I would say that for last years it was quite the opposite… Asus Zenfone was a bit smaller, and few others… all of them being on the more pricey range. I do not remember anything <€500 worth buying… I remember having few years ago phone from "Note" series… and yet - it was smaller than "normal" nowadays.

barbs 1y ago

Agreed. I'm still hanging onto my 1st gen iPhone SE, there's been no worthy replacements.

supertrope 1y ago

The market has decided the benefit of a bigger battery and screen outweighs bigger size.

qwertfisch 1y ago
The market? The manufacturers or the people? Phones that were biggest size/weight only six or seven years ago are now not even available anymore. Why? I cannot imagine that all(!) people want phones that now weigh at least 180g (most even 200+g) and have huge displays. Do people need to play games all the time? I don’t. I just want a phone to support me with some helpful apps like train/bus timetables, play music, do a quick internet search, make a picture, do alarms and notify about things. Nothing fancy, and nothing where a really need a 7" display nor a 5Ah battery. When my current phone (Samsung A40) will die someday, I will be very sad as there is nothing today even remotely comparable to the compactness and usefulness of this device.
- gruez 1y ago
  >The market? The manufacturers or the people? The latter, because AFAIK iPhone 12/13 minis sold rather poorly, and apple discontinued them.

qwertfisch 1y ago

You don’t even have to make it thicker. My Samsung A40 is less than 8mm thick. It has a FullHD display, 440dpi sharpness, weighs only 140g and is less than 145mm in length. The cameras support 16Mpx back and 25MPx front (not that it’s needed much). The quality is not the best, but very suitable. It has support for fingerprint, microsd, 3.5mm jack – everything necessary. (Only thing missing is esim, but that can be added by an adapter.) So it IS possible. The manufacturers just don’t WANT.