The most affordable offering in Apple's current line-up of smartphones might have met an early end. The Cupertino tech giant is reportedly stopping production of the iPhone 12 mini as the device underperformed, causing a premature of end-of-life-cycle for the compact 5G smartphone.
"Apple is expected to focus on driving sales of the three non-mini models in the iPhone 12s series in view of the fact that the iPhone 12 mini (which reached End-of-Life ahead of time in 2Q21) suffered disappointing sales performances compared to other models in the iPhone 12 family," said market intelligence agency TrendForce.
As of now, the iPhone 12 mini remains listed on the Apple website and is expected to be available till existing stocks last.
Apple had launched the iPhone 12 mini along with the rest of the iPhone 12 line-up last-year. For the price of ₹69,900, brought the same power and performance as its bigger siblings, albeit with a smaller footprint. It also was the cheapest 5G smartphone from Apple stables.
Despite the tepid success of Apple iPhone 12 mini, tech giant is looking to introduce a successor in the upcoming iPhone line-up, tentatively dubbed iPhone 13 or iPhone 12s. The new devices are expected to be launched in September this year, TrendForce mentioned, keeping in line with Apple's product launch schedule.
Apple is expected the prices for the iPhone 13 (or iPhone 12s) devices at par with the iPhone 12 ones, TrendForce stated. Considering that the upcoming four devices are direct extensions of the respective current models, Apple will continue its proactive strategy to grab market share in the premium smartphone category, the agency added.
"Even though prices of some key components have risen due to tightening supply, Apple is taking into account of the growth in the revenue of peripheral services in relation to the growth of iPhone sales. This means that the starting price of the upcoming iPhone series will likely be relatively on par with the starting price of the iPhone 12 series," said TrendForce.
The iPhone 12 starts at ₹79,900, whereas price for the smallest iPhone 12 mini begin at ₹69,900. iPhone 12 Pro prices begin at 1,19,900, while the top-shelf iPhone 12 Pro Max price tag starts from ₹1,29,900.
While not a lot will change with the design of iPhone 13 series in comparison to its predecessors, Apple will prioritise optimisation of existing functions. These improvements will include the Apple's A15 processors based on TSMC's 5nm+ architecture, flexible AMOLED panels, higher refresh rate up to 120Hz for the two Pro mdoels, sensor-shift image stabilization technologies for the main cameras, and auto-focus for ultra-wide sensors on Pro models, TrendForce mentioned in its report.
The memory capacities are expected to be the same, the agency said, which dashes the hopes of an 1TB iPhone, at least for the next upgrade. Apple is also likely to keep the LiDAR sensors exclusive to iPhone Pro models for now. The notch atop the screens might shrink a bit as size of sensor housings has been decreased.
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Apple said to have pull the plug on iPhone 12 mini; here's why - Mint
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