Despite low sales numbers, the iPhone 12 mini is staying for now

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The soothsayer of everything Apple, Ming-Chi Kuo, has good news for fans of the diminutive iPhone 12 mini. It’s staying, at least for another year, with the 5.4-inch form factor staying in the lineup when the iPhone 13 range arrives later this year.

That’s good to hear, with recent reports saying that demand was low and that the iPhone mini form-factor wouldn’t be making an appearance this year. It seems those fears were premature, as the iPhone 13 range will have the same four sizes as the iPhone 12 range:

• 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini
• 6.1-inch iPhone 12
• 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro
• 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max

That’s even in the face of a report from Counterpoint Research, which found that the iPhone 12 mini only made up five percent of iPhone 12 sales in the first two weeks of January in the United States. Apple hasn’t reported on individual device sales for a while now, so we only have third-party numbers to go on.

Maybe the internal sales figures tell another story, or maybe Apple has surplus components left from the iPhone 12 mini and wants to keep on going until those are depleted. It could also be that Apple wants to keep the smaller device to justify the higher price of the base iPhone model, which is currently $699.

Whatever the reasoning, we’re sure that a substantial section of Apple users love the little handset, and will be glad to hear that they have a like-for-like upgrade path this year.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.