In its first month of sales, the iPhone 12 mini was the least popular of Apple’s four new iPhone models, accounting for only 4% to 5% of sales at each of the major carriers.
The main iPhone 12 model, which costs $100 more and is considerably larger, was the most popular model in the lineup, earning 24% to 33% of sales at the three major US carriers.
Wave7 interviews sales reps at carrier stores to get a picture of sales. The 12 mini had the “softest demand,” and some people chose the iPhone 12 Pro Max because of its camera, according to the report.
The 12 mini isn’t taking off at prepaid carriers, either: The even less expensive iPhone SE, which costs $399 (the 12 mini costs $699), has been the big iPhone star at both Metro and Boost, according to Wave7.
This matches the findings of another company, Flurry Analytics. According to the company’s research, launch week activity of the iPhone 12 saw the US install base hitting 0.94% for the iPhone 12 Pro Max, 0.40% for the iPhone 12 Pro and 0.41% for the iPhone 12, but just 0.12% for the iPhone 12 mini.
One possible reason for this is that iOS fans who want something more pocketable already have an alternative. The 2020 iPhone SE isn’t as powerful as the iPhone 12 mini, and nor does it offer 5G connectivity, but it offers a compact design and crucially comes in at $300 cheaper. Perhaps the main appeal of a smaller phone for most people was saving money, and if that’s the case, then why wouldn’t they go ahead and save even more?
Perhaps this has been a tough year for a lot of people and a shiny new iPhone isn’t a priority. The middle of a world wide crisis might not be a good time to judge the public’s desire for anything that isn’t a necessity. Just sayin’
I honestly don’t care about very small phones for myself. I would, however, like there to be options for those who don’t want to carry an enormous phone. I’m not happy about Apple’s push for bigger and bigger phones to the exclusion of reasonable sized ones in general, so I hope that the Mini sales will end up indicating that people want smaller options.
I think the timing of the SE 2 took the wind out of the Mini’s sales as it got many of the people who valued a smaller phone more than a cheaper phone.
I’m potentially one of those. I held on to my original SE as long as I could because of the size and the headphone jack, but the battery life had gotten so miserable after years and years of use that I threw in the towel when the SE 2 came out. I was tempted by the rumors of the upcoming Mini, but just couldn’t wait around to see if it actually got released.
If the Mini was available at the same time the SE2 came out it would have been a very interesting call if the cheapness of the SE2 or the superior quality of the Mini would have won out.
If this information mentioned in Tom’s Guide from Flurry Analytics is accurate and continuing
launch week activity of the iPhone 12 saw the US install base hitting 0.94% for the iPhone 12 Pro Max, 0.40% for the iPhone 12 Pro and 0.41% for the iPhone 12, but just 0.12% for the iPhone 12 mini.
and looking at the sales ratios, it would seem that out of every 100 iPhone 12 purchases (just iPhone 12, not SE or any other model) this is the rough breakdown
50 iPhone 12 Pro Max
21 iPhone 12 Pro
22 iPhone 12
07 iPhone 12 mini
Maybe the other part of the story is how popular the 12 Pro Max is?