By expressing disappointment with the absence of a mini on every single new iPhone announcement, you’re basically ignoring the fact that Apple and other phone makers understand that small form factor phones are dead as a mainstream product.
Small phones are dead as a mainstream product, sure.
Screenreaders are also dead as a mainstream product.
Phones with a German language setting are dead as a mainstream product.
However, there are various people with severe disabilities like being blind, being german, and having small hands, so we should produce phones that are appropriate for all of those groups, and yet only the former two are serviced (even though there are more people with small hands than there are germans).
Sent from an iPhone mini, which is already about an inch too big for my hands.
No phone company is releasing a flagship SFF phone because there simply is no mainstream consumer demand for one. In fact, demand has been dead for many years now.
Good for you that you have a iPhone mini, but I would wager you won’t be seeing a new mini model anytime soon. Unless of course mainstream consumer demands shift, at which point HN dreams will become reality once more.
What is for certain is that complaining about this on every phone-related HN thread will not help change anything.
The iPhone SE 2022 was in the top ten smartphones of the year by sales figures. It may not be as astronomical as flagship phones, but it's simply a lie to say it's "dead" as a "mainstream" product.
By expressing disappointment with the absence of a mini on every single new iPhone announcement, you’re basically ignoring the fact that Apple and other phone makers understand that small form factor phones are dead as a mainstream product.