We have to hand it to Apple. As far as their smartphone lineup goes, there’s a little something for everyone.
But that doesn’t mean all entrants into the bloodsport that is the smartphone arms race get to succeed in the marketplace.
Perhaps that is why Cupertino is cutting back on iPhone Mini production by some 20%. For those of you unfamiliar with Apple’s offerings in the headset space, the mini is, appropriately, the budget model with a smaller form factor than the larger Max.
A report cited by PetaPixel from Reuters reports that the smaller headset actually accounts for 5% of Apple’s total smartphone sales in the United States. In other words, it’s not making as much of an impact on the market as company brass would like. This comes on top of the word that Apple is prepping suppliers for a year in which the company plans on producing 230 million units.
About the same size as the original iPhone, the mini might be suffering from the fact that a smaller form factor, while revolutionary at the time, just isn’t capable of handling the tasks some users expect out of their iPhones today. Heck, we know some people that use their iPhones as little less than a second laptop. That probably wouldn’t be as easy to pull off with a tiny screen – or, at least, not as comfortable.
Do you use an iPhone Mini? Do you think Apple can credibly market a more mass-market smartphone when so much of their brand cachet is invested in being the latest and most cutting-edge company on the market? How do you think this market positioning impacts the smartphone’s camera capabilities? Let us know your thoughts on Apple’s smartphone lineup in the comments below.
Be sure to look at some of our other photography news at this link right here.
