I see so many people asking for smaller phones, and, at the same time, the sales aren’t very good when companies give it a try. How can both be true?
I believe (from my anedoctal observations) that small phone users tend to be people who don’t want to replace their phones just for the sake of getting a newer one, and use their devices for several years, resulting in fewer sales than expected.
I prefer smaller phones but none of them have the specs I want. I’m never looking for bleeding edge flagships either. I just want a good enough camera, good enough screen, goddamn micro SD slot damn it, and flat glass edges with a bit of a bezel so I can put a case and tempered glass on. And whatever the maker needs to make available for custom roms to be possible because I’m damn well going to keep using it after official updates end.
They wouldn’t even need to make a new model as frequently, maybe minor revisions to replace no longer available components. USB port update shouldn’t be needed for a good chunk of time since c seems pretty great. There’s probably a shitload of tooling and supply chain issues to work out even ignoring the likely toxic workplace politics though.
You see so many people asking for smaller phones in the forums and places you frequent.
They do not necessarily represent the views of the common public. I personally could do with a slightly smaller phone because the compact size allows for easier holding with single hands. But, sadly, I have not seen folks around me deciding which phone to buy based on their screen size. Neither is that a priority for them. Simply put, our Venn diagrams do not fully overlap.
I see a lot of people around me asking for smaller phones, from my family to work and friends. Perhaps it’s something cultural, I don’t know.
But I’m well aware that our perception can trick us in so many ways, and can’t speak for itself. I would love to see atual data on phone size preferences around the world.
Still, I doubt that there aren’t enough people wanting smaller phones to sustain a market niche.
True, geographic diversity is a thing. Smaller phones like iPhone mini or Zenfone didn’t caught up in the Indian market. But, should demand exist for them, atleast some companies ought to be making them in some parts of the world. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be happening and that presents one less choice to the customer.
I feel like when there is a small phone released, though, it has compromises on battery life and camera quality that people might not accept. I think a lot of people who “want a small phone” want a small phone with no other compromises other than the size of the phone.
I’m compromising on those things right now with a phone that’s ten (!!) years old now. If I could get one running a current OS, that was between 120-150mm with a replaceable battery, headphone jack, usb c, and the ability to take a 1TB micro sd along with a physical sim, I would take that upgrade.
You meet them online, but they’re a vocal minority. Especially when a smaller phone means a smaller battery and worse camera system, two of the consistently top priorities for consumers.
Could be a larger demographic thing. Tech enthusiasts tend to have lots of devices(tablets, portable computers, etc.), so they tend to like the smaller form factor phones since they can always use their tablet/laptop when the small phone is limiting. Those people are also the ones you see in these kinds of online communities. For a lot of other people though, they’re getting the big phone and then not having a personal tablet/portable computer at all. Those aren’t the kind of people that hang out online and talk about tech stuff though.
The point I feel is that small phones have a small but vocal userbase and is not lucrative for smartphone manufacturers as more R&D is involved in the packaging for product which has a small audience
See also: manual transmissions in cars. I say this as someone who, until going electric, exclusively drove three pedal cars. People just weren’t buying them, but toward the end it did seem like manufacturers were making it less appealing to buy them by only putting them in base models.
I also believe it’s usually high(er) end model being smaller and people who want smaller phones want something cheaper. At least that’s what’s going on in my social bubble.
On the other hand I was genuinely torn between the pixel 7 pro and the pixel 7a when I lost my Pixel 5 because I wanted the pro features but the smaller size of the 7a. Ended up getting the pro because the size wasn’t so far apart to make much of a difference, both were massive anyways compared to the 5.
But I bought second hand open box so maybe I’m not in the demographic that matters to Google.
I’m a staunch and unyielding small phone user and this does, admittedly, describe me. I used my LG Optimus (4.75" or 120mm) for something like 6 or 7 years and I loved it. I don’t use my phone for games or video and just want something I can always tuck in a pocket (on women’s clothes this means tiny). It was the perfect size for my hand. When it stopped working because of the 3G/4G change over I upgraded to the smallest, most decent phone I could find: a Samsung Galaxy S7. I am still using it something like 5 years later and I would never go bigger than this, it fits comfortably in one hand, is light, and the battery is replaceable and lasts me all day. It sticks out of pants pockets but fits in a coat or jacket pocket. I would be willing to pay a higher up front cost to get a new phone if it was exactly what I wanted though, about 5" with no bloatware, replaceable battery, headphone jack, and a great camera.
You’re just like me hahaha. My first smartphone was an LG Optimus too, the L70 model. I used for almost the same amount of time, until 2020. It still works, but I stopped using it due to the lack of storage space (2GB only) and older android version. I still think that phone is the perfect size, and would love to have the same model, but with upgraded specs. Then I had to get another one, and moved to Samsung too, but the A01 core.
Yeah the older android version is what killed it for me really, as I would have even kept using it as a wireless device. I couldn’t install my preferred browser, email app, reddit is fun etc on it after enough years. I even rooted it and looked into installing a new version of Android on it but couldn’t haha. It was compact, comfortable to hold, but big enough to browse and read text or to use an onscreen keyboard without much trouble. I was really disappointed to learn that there just were no phones compatible with 4G/LTE running Android 8 or higher that size, not even cheapie ones.
I managed to install lineageos on mine and extend its life for a few years, but the storage limitation was the bottleneck, as I had about 600mb for all my apps and data. I still used that device for a good while, even after buying another, because that size is so comfortable to me. It was so sad when if stopped working after emmc wear :(
Maybe it’s about perspective. When smaller phones were the default, other phones were more of an exclusion. When bigger phones became the defacto default, smaller phones started to seem smaller in spec in comparison (mostly battery) while being at about the same price.
I think you may be on to something. I keep hearing podcast ads for a t-mobile phone upgrade service that brags about offering 2 year upgrades, which sounds bizarre to me because I want my phones to last at least 3 years.
I guess most people browse the web and that’s why bigger screens work better. I happily bought bigger phones. Some people like to pretend phones are for calls but that’s just not true IME.
Also agreed. However the manufacturers know how many of each device they sell and seem to think the smaller form factor devices aren’t very popular. I imagine there’s multiple reasons, like the smaller phones tend to also have lower battery life and lack other features due to size and they tend to appeal to people on tighter budgets that upgrade less often.
I think it’s part of a push of making your smartphone your “everything” device. I love small phones but I will say that some tasks are just impossible with them.
man I just miss being able to type and reach all corners of the screen with one hand without having to be a contortionist or accidentally clicking on the one-handed keyboard that I never actually use because I’ve already resigned to always using two hands anyways
I’ve since realized that you can turn off the one handed keyboard completely but the fact that it has to exist at all still annoys me
Currently in the process of switching to a degoogled OnePlus 5 which is only taking a long time because I’m having to find the right combo of system apps and replacements for googles apps which I’ve all but done.
Seriously if you’re trying to make a google free phone try LineageOS microG. It’s a spin on Lineage that gives you replacements for a lot of core apps like a location provider, and a load of other stuff you wouldn’t realise wasn’t in pure android.
Now all I need is a new battery and I have a FOSS( bar firmware, blobs, and magic earth, because no FOSS map app works well in the UK for me) phone.
But honesty I love this phone it’s just the right size and it still has touch buttons for home, back, and recent apps instead of on screen ones( which I kinda hate). Paired with dual cameras and a gorgeous 1080p OLED display.
And you want to know the best part?
It only cost me £50!
Seriously if you’re sick of modern phones and yern for the good old days this is a pretty great middle ground.
Typing this from my pixel 5. The best sized phone ever. I think imo the use case for big ass 15 feet phones is a little overkill. Most people are just buying it because it’s “premium”.
Steve Jobs called the first release of the iPhone with its 3.5" screen, “the perfect size for human hands”.
Say what you want about Steve’s other claims, he was probably fairly right on that one. Humans have opposable thumbs and the average range of said thumbs when touching something cradled in the palm without external movement is about 3-4 inches.
And yet I’m typing this on a “moderate” sized Samsung A71, and to tap something on the top of the screen I need to use my other hand or shift the phone downwards in my grasp to do so.
Yeah I wish my 5a was a little smaller, it’d be perfect. Still been a great phone so far. But my screen is scratched to hell because I forgot to put a protector on it.
Currently using an Essential Ph1 running Lineage (Android 13) and I’m about to switch to a Pixel 4a of all things, because of size, weight (its plastic), cheap as hell (so I can keep a hot spare around and do testing for a low cost), and it has one of the highest NIT ratings of any unlockable phones.
The 5 looks good too, just not as bright, slightly larger, and a little heavier.
From what I’ve seen online, the 5 is trivially larger (like 1mm each way).
What drives me to the 4a is the brighter screen, slightly lighter, and plastic. So when I drop it (not if), it’ll bounce better.
Also, they’re cheap as hell from Walmart of all places, about $100, lol. So I can afford 2 or 3 of them for the cost of a newer phone that has performance and features I really don’t care about.
I recently busted out my Pixel 5 (currently using Pixel 7) to try out Lineage OS and absolutely love how it feels in my hands. It’s light and easy to reach all of the screen with one hand. Man I miss that phone.
Nexus 5 was a good size for me, this 4a is too big to be comfortable. If rather have the bezels back, too. Much easier to use without 100% screen coverage.
People have been saying this for the last 5 years and will continue saying this for the next 5 years. They make less smaller phones cuz people don’t buy them
That will be a side effect of them locking abitrary features behind the bigger and thus more expensive models, if there was feature parity smaller phones would probably still be the norm.
Me for the pixel 8 pro. I’d rather the regular pixel 8 but if I’m going to keep this thing for 7 years (which I will; typing from a pixel 2) then I want it to be as feature rich as possible. Not looking forward to how big it’s going to be when it finally gets delivered
If you can figure out a way to cram all of the shit in a 15 Pro Max into a form factor the size of an iPhone 4 not only will Apple suck your dick in the form of a well-earned half million dollar salary but you'll likely get a Nobel Prize for breakthroughs in quantum computing and also making atoms smaller.
It's a very realistic example of what you would have to do to cram all of the shit from a large phone into a small phone. The features that are cut aren't fucking "arbitrary" unless you want to classify every feature difference as "abitrary" thereby making your definition of arbitrary meaningless.
No, I agree with his point. Features do take space. Maybe we can make space for a headphone jack (🙄), but consumers demand more cameras, with a larger sensor, faster and more power hungry processors, bigger batteries. With any space limitation (even the Pro Max comes with a space limitation because it can’t become an iPad…) there are feature tradeoffs, and obviously a smaller phone will fit fewer cameras, less cooling, a smaller battery, etc.
Of course they do. The S23 for example is smaller than the iPhone 15, was the same price on release (came out Feb 2023) and has features beating the iPhone 15 Pro Max, a much bigger and more recent device. Most features/hardware on the bigger phones exist in smaller phones, most of the extra space on larger phones is usually just taken up by a larger battery anyway. They can go watch some teardowns, look into all the software locked features like with the recent Pixel 8 phones, instead of blindly jumping to the defence of these mega-corporations who only want to upsell.
But yes, obviously some features are a lot harder to fit in a smaller space, but I thought that was the obvious asterisk to my comment. Perhaps they should spend some R&D on figuring that out though, rather than rehashing the same devices year after year which is just leading to e-waste.
(I'd love the 3.5mm port back too, but they all want to sell their wireless 'buds' now, so not going to happen for that reason alone :c)
There are some features that just can’t be equal between a bigger phone and a smaller one (or would require gimping the bigger phone) like a bigger screen (obviously), bigger battery and more size for larger camera sensors
As a woman - I don’t have a problem with pockets, I usually get them enlarged. The problem is with our small hands, which would make using a large phone one-handed impossible. The older smartphone I am still sometimes using as a modem/mp3 player is 7x14 cm, and this is absolutely my maximum. I mostly use a dumbphone, it is smaller than my palm and fits even in a shirt pocket.
I feel like hopefully with a potential paradigm shift, maybe one SIM card and number shared between several devices, one large phone or tablet for work or movies and a smaller feature phone for on demand urgent communications, we’ll hopefully see the market for OEMs open up a bit wider and allow for further competition/collaboration across the whole portable electronics sector
The Samsung flagships (s22, 23) are the only “small” phones, but they’re actually pretty good. I’ve been using Samsung for a few years now and it actually improves on the things that annoy me with stock android.
I wanted small phone after 4 years with op7t and went logically for S23. But few years back it would be massive phone. Nowadays I found it like a perfect sweet spot of size, weight… Performance, software and camera wise it’s the only option.
I got the S23 because it was smaller, then returned it and got a bigger phone. I guess I’m one of the people that only thought they wanted a smaller phone.
I always found big phones very hard to use (even though I have big hands), so I preferred small phones.
Then I got an S21, which was borderline too big (relative to the S10e), so I was looking for a solution and found phoneloops. Using this is so comfortable, I figured I don’t really need small phones anymore.
I dropped my S21 and a couple of things went broke, so I figured I would try an S23 ultra with phoneloops.
It was comfortable to use with the loops. I liked the huge screen for consuming content and I found the pen pretty handy at times. But I just couldn’t get used to the thickness and weight. I didn’t like using it because of it. After two months I grabbed my old phone and was blown away by it’s small size and weight. I ordered some replacement parts and switched back (daughterboard, loudspeaker, battery, glue). I appreciate it’s size even more now.
I guess if they would make a 170g, 8mm thick phone with a 7 inch display (FLAT), I would definitely give it a try.
I didn’t try the S21, but I always thought the S8 was a very comfortable phone to hold. It was tall, but narrow, and very thin. I’m not sure I’d go back to that now, but I did like it a lot at the time.
There are just a handful of flagship phones coming out in the last two years that are sub 69mm wide: the zenphones, and the xperia 5 IV and V (and the apple iphone SE 2022)
I just want phones that are shorter. They keep getting longer, which means more risk of breaking, and means the keyboard is unusable in landscape since it blocks the textfield.
Months ago my coworker and I were joking that something similar would be a funny podcast, then we both went no. No one should ever do this….it would not end well.
What irks me about the larger phones is that there is so much wasted screen real estate. The phone doubled in size, but can only show me half the number of items on my shopping list?
God I loved the Nexus 4, I had iPhones from iPhone 3G to 4 moved to a Galaxy S3 which I absolutely despised due to the bloatware… sold that on eBay and bought a Nexus 4 16gb for £280… Had Nexus/Pixel branded phones ever since.
The #a line is usually a bit smaller then the flagships. The 4a was the perfect size. 3a was huge compared to it. 6a is slightly larger than the 4a. The 6 is massive compared to the 6a
Still using an S10e, & getting around 7-8 hrs SOT, great phone, perfect size, good cameras & screen, with the bonus of SD card support & a headphone jack…
Have the s10e as well. Got it 3 months after launch and I håbe the same battery experience. I’m very impressed by it, even if the phone is starting to get a bit sluggish.
Actually, the Xperia 5 series from Sony is “small” in comparison, so is the Pixel 8 and they all have the same hardware specs - except the zoom lense. Which is a damn shame, because my Pixel 6 Pro is just a tad too big. I wouldn’t wanna go back to my Xperia Z1 Compact, tbh. 4,3" is not big enough anymore…
I could see it being good for construction or something, keep your main phone in a bag or whatever while you have a paired flip phone on ya. If it gets destroyed due to whatever reason itd be easier to replace.
Yes, that is the kind of use case I’m talking about. Rather than beefing up a thousand dollar phone with a case and a holster, I’d rather keep the good phone somewhere safe while I take a far cheaper handset in my pocket.
Right now, the way I could have that is to have 2 lines with different phone numbers and different phone plans, so the monthly cost doesn’t work out.
I feel you, I am 6ft tall and the mini was just the perfect size for me and wasn’t bulky. I just went with a 15 Pro Max, just to give a huge phone a fair shot I figured I’d try one for a year… and I do a lot of photography so the better camera was enticing. We’ll see how it works out, maybe next cycle there will be a new mini or I’ll just downgrade to the standard pro size if I doing like the size of the max.
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