The iPhone mini is going to be discontinued after three years—stock of the iPhone mini 13 and 14 is low and there won’t be an iPhone 15 mini this time around.
Apple is set to unveil a 2024 iPhone lineup at its “Wonderlust” event tomorrow, marking the end of the road for the iPhone mini after a good three-year run. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman noted that the iPhone 13 mini stock is running low on Apple’s online store in the United States, with multi-week delivery times.
This happens to all Apple products that are about to be updated, but analysts claim the iPhone mini brand is being discontinued over lackluster sales.
iPhone mini is being discontinued
Gurman reported on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, that Apple’s retail stores in the country are seeing low or no stock of several products about to be refreshed tomorrow, including the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini.
Latest tidbits from retail:
– Low/no stock of Watch Ultras, watch bands, leather cases, MagSafe wallets, iPhone 12, 13 minis, Pro phones
– Merchandise reset on evening of Sept. 12 with manager call set for after event. Uncharacteristic for event days
– Plan to push USB-C bricks— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) September 10, 2023
Those are, as he put it, the “latest tidbits from retail.” The iPhone mini had a decent three-year run but now is going away.
The disappointing iPhone mini
The iPhone mini was announced as part of the iPhone 12 lineup in 2020. Pre-orders opened on November 6, and the phone landed on store shelves on November 13.
Subsequent mini models were released as part of the 2021 iPhone 13 and 2022 iPhone 15 refreshes. Disregarding for the moment the iPhone SE, the iPhone mini is the most affordable model. Plus, it’s got that pocketable form factor with a 5.4-inch display that Apple thought many people would still prefer over bigger phones.
Apple was wrong about the iPhone mini
But Apple’s assumptions didn’t pan out. A device chassis also dictates battery size, and Apple obviously couldn’t fit a strong enough battery inside the iPhone mini to make it a viable option for the typical consumer. As a result, the device was heavily criticized for its short battery life by the press. Some buyers also bulked at the price. The iPhone 12 mini was priced at $699, $100 more than the regular iPhone 12.
When the iPhone 13 lineup arrived the following year, Apple didn’t slash the iPhone 13 mini’s price, leaving it at $699. After the iPhone 14’s introduction, Apple killed the iPhone 13 Pros but continues to offer both the iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 13.
This time around, however, the iPhone 13 mini did receive a price cut by $100, bringing it down to $599—still not low enough to change its fortunes.