alt Hacker NewsWhy are small phones not economical for major flagship phone developers? Obviously more expensive phones generate more revenue, but the reduced bill of materials on smaller phones should allow a better profit margin?
Mostly I just want a phone that is comfortable in my hands.
Replies
gjsman-1000 • last Wednesday at 4:23 PM
Because nobody buys them.
Apple tried with the iPhone 12 mini, and the iPhone 13 mini. They were only 5% of phones sold globally, and only 3% of phones sold in the US.
The desire for small phones is an internet thing, but not backed by the market. Take it as a reality check for how internet opinions can be mostly irrelevant.
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noja • last Wednesday at 4:22 PM
Because people expected to have lower prices with smaller phones.
> but the reduced bill of materials on smaller phones should allow a better profit margin?
Is there a significantly reduced bill of materials? At best, the correlation between size and cost is very small. Most of the costs are in software, manufacturing, etc, not in materials.
Also, would there be a better profit margin? I bet customers won’t want to pay the same for a smaller phone, certainly not give that it will have lower battery life (power usage will, at best, go up with screen area, and battery volume will go up faster than phone volume because parts such as CPUs will not be smaller in smaller phones)