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

Abstract

Silicon-carbon tech permits extra space-efficient batteries, which might clear up the most important criticism about mini fashions.
A brand new mini would additionally profit from extra power-efficient chip designs and dynamic show know-how.
Nonetheless, Apple may not have the ability to discover room for a brand new mini in its lineup except it makes it a foldable.

One thing I discover attention-grabbing — 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 pricey life. These die-hards insist that life is healthier with a telephone below six inches, since you’ll be able to truly 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 type issue. It is a small act of insurrection, 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 a substitute of display screen measurement. With current traits and technological developments, nevertheless, the time could possibly be ripe to rethink the concept, 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.

Essentially 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 vitality density. Which means it is attainable to ship the identical quantity of vitality 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 most effective-known instance might be the OnePlus 13, which has a 6,000mAh capability. Whereas it is nonetheless greatest to cost it in a single day, the product can legitimately make it two days with gentle 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 can be the right use case.

In actual fact, what’s unusual in the intervening time is that Apple and Samsung have not adopted swimsuit. Apple skipped the know-how 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 intervening time, each firms appear to suppose that prospects 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 can 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 could nonetheless be a really sensible machine, in a position to go from wake-up to bedtime with no need mid-day refueling. If you happen to’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, similar to processor design. Apple’s predominant chip producer, TSMC, is rolling out a 2nm course of this yr — when you think about that the A15 Bionic processor within the iPhone 13 mini was constructed utilizing 5nm know-how, there’s potential for severe enhancements in element measurement and/or energy effectivity.

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

One other factor you may depend on is Apple making an attempt to squeeze as a lot as attainable into customized chips. Its first mobile modem, the C1, debuted on the iPhone 16e earlier this yr, 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 additionally have the ability to shrink or fully eradicate the digicam notch, maximizing house on a small show (small by trendy requirements, anyway). Eliminating it could require utilizing under-display know-how, which has proved a bit flaky on competing {hardware} — but when there’s any firm that would make it work properly, it is most likely Apple.

One other support to battery life can 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 capabilities (similar 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 at times, I will wager.

An iPhone 16 Pro with the flash going off.

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What are the possibilities of a brand new iPhone mini?

Remaining ideas

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 partly folded.

Sadly, I am not relying on it. A brand new Mini might sit in an odd 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 concept 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 type issue except the iPhone 17 Air is an entire catastrophe.

Niches nonetheless demand to be served, nevertheless.

Extra importantly, maybe, the smartphone trade normally has drifted away from screens below six inches. For no matter cause, mini iPhones by no means offered properly, and the final flagship telephone of any form with sub-6 dimensions was the ASUS Zenfone 10. Compact telephones have change into a distinct segment, with most consumers 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 method Apple might take is constructing a clamshell foldable, akin to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 — this would possibly allow one-handed texting from an exterior display screen, whereas protecting a much bigger major display screen out there for issues like YouTube and net shopping. It is such an apparent thought, 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 most likely a few years out from a clamshell, no less than.