[chartered_stack]

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.

[vintagedave]

> carrying a dedicated camera, a power bank, and using wired peripherals

I'm a small-phone person, and I don't think these _should_ be necessary. I'm fine with wired peripherals (and prefer them), but in 2025, with efficient chips, I don't see why we can't power a device much longer than 24 hours. What if it had decade-old hardware, and -- this is the bit I think is the problem -- the operating system and apps were efficient?

Same with a camera. It seems more about thickness than width; I don't believe it should be impossible to put a large-phone-format camera in a smaller phone. It may take battery space, but see above, we should be ok there these days.

[volemo]

> but in 2025, with efficient chips, I don't see why we can't power a device much longer than 24 hours.

That is only possible if we don't write the software with dozen layers of abstraction and gimmicky features (looking at you, Liquid Glass!).

[ChrisRR]

The biggest power drain is still the screen and those haven't really improved that much.

[VoxPelli]

"the trade-offs in battery life and camera quality are too significant" - a small but thicker phone would have no trouble with battery life and could for sure have the same good cameras as larger phones – and could possibly even ditch the camera bump if it just made the entire phone as thick as the camera bump to fit a larger battery.

(After all, easiest way to increase battery size is to increase the smallest dimension. Add 1mm to a 4-4.5mm thick battery and you'll increase the battery size by 22-25%. Make the iPhone 13 Mini as thick as its camera bump and you would probably add ≈2.4mm, which would make the battery 60% larger)

[VoxPelli]

If one were to make a iPhone 17 Pro Mini as thick as the iPhone 4 then it would:

- Likely still weigh less than a Pro Max - Have a battery with a capacity larger than the Pro Max - Have the pro cameras stick out about as much as they did on the iPhone 6

And it would feel as robust and solid as an iPhone 4 – my favorite iPhone so far

[Jolter]

The iPhone SE 3 might have a poor camera, but the one on the iPhone mini 13 is excellent!

My conclusion is the same as the author’s: it’s a matter of you get what you pay for. The demand here is for a small premium phone. This would come with a good set of cameras.

[flakeoil]

Since Pixel 3a and iPhone SE 3, the battery technology has improved and especially the charging times have gone down dramatically so the battery life experience you had then would not occur today with the same form factor.