just make normal sized cellphones again, please!
Large phones are the new normal size now.
Going back to small phones now feels like trying to type through a postage stamp
Yeah, I was thinking who’s to say what “normal” size even is? In hindsight, it was awkward as hell taking calls on my tiny nokia brick. Personally, I think we’ve hit a sweet spot between functionality and size practicality. I’m happy with my 6" screen as long as women’s clothes continue on the trend of indulging us with functional pockets.
I’m waiting for a free upgrade to switch to a flip phone. I didn’t want one immediately because I was worried about quality, but from what I hear they’re doing well. Decent compromise for me
Ive been using the galaxy fold 3 for 2 years now and i could never go back to one that doesnt fold. The tablet style screen has become my main screen. Its just functionally superior to any normal phone screen and if im only performing simple tasks the smaller outer screen is fine.
I saw a review for a new Motorola Razr, and thought that maybe I’d switch to one of those, but I love a good camera and it’s camera wasn’t good.
But the siren song of manageably sized phones still calls to me.
Motorola of today is unfortunately not the Motorola of yesterday. I loved my Razr and Really really loved my Droid with the side charging port, it docked into the nightstand cradle and the driving cradle perfectly.
Everytime someone says this and manufacturers end up making a smaller phone… no one buys them.
I did. I bought the original Jelly. Now I use the biggest phone of them all, a Fold 4…
In saying that, I might buy the new Jelly too, it’s IR blaster feature would come in handy as a universal remote, plus, in case I ever decide to take up running, would be easier to carry the Jelly around instead of a Fold.
Most people prefer big phones.
People asked Apple for this, and when they obliged, it sold so terribly that retailers literally could not give them away. Unfortunately, it seems those who actually want smaller phones are a vocal minority
Capitalism: Providing infinite consumer choice, so long as your choice is to consume what everyone else is consuming.
I’ve got about a billion issues with capitalism, but I’m not sure how you think something like this should work otherwise? Product design/development/manufacturing takes a bunch of resources, so it doesn’t make sense in any model to make things people generally don’t want.
Apple user here. If they don’t come out with a new generation of iphone mini, I am simply going to never buy another phone again.
I am simply going to never buy another phone again.
This will not happen.
It’s these glass backs that I can’t stand. I bought a phone not a wet bar of soap.
I’m a big guy, with big hands.
Got the s22 ultra, and it feels like it’s finally a me sized phone. I’ve been fighting tiny phones for decades!
In the end, we need a range from small to large.
Not possible at the moment. Without the large size, you can’t fit an adequate battery to last a day or longer.
Not to mention that many people want good cameras on their phone, an they need space as well.
Display needs a lot of battery, less of it and you dont need such a big one. Than make it two millimeters thicker and the problem is solved.
That is a factor, but not a big one anymore. Not as big as the communication chips (bluetooth, wifi, 4g/5g). Also rendering apps and websites is excessively expensive, specially if you want to have HiDPI and 60Hz or more.
I’m typing this comment on a Zenfone 9, which is a pretty reasonably sized phone with a decent battery and camera. Charging to 80% usually lasts me over a day of usage. The camera is good enough as well. Phones don’t have to be so massive to have those features
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I’ll even say this…not every phone needs to be water resistant just bring back the ports and sd cards slots we loved
And that doesn’t require water resistance, my A52s has an IPX 67 rating and has both.
A52s is one of the most goated midrange phones ever made IMO
It is, it has such a perfect balance of features. Now that the A series is losing the headphone jack as well, I’m going to have some serious questions when I’m looking at a replacement phone some time in 2026 or 2027.
Just grow bigger hands 😉
Why do people prefer smaller phones? Like I use a realme 7. So not small but I don’t feel like it’s massive. And ths screen is nice if I want to watch a video or play a game. I feel like with more people using their phone as a primary computing device they will be bigger to accommodate that. Genuinely interested in why people prefer smaller phones
My desktop is my primary computing device, and I still want a large phone. Using small phones is no fun, and I’m actually looking for larger. I prefer the screen width to be at least 7cm, most phones don’t clear that.
I feel like with more people using their phone as a primary computing device they will be bigger to accommodate that. Genuinely interested in why people prefer smaller phones
I understand where you’re coming from here, however I think there’s still enough folks for whom their phone isn’t their primary computing device that explains the desire for smaller phones. That and smaller hands as Throwsbooks mentions.
Frankly mobile OSes still don’t really cut it for more involved computing work even when bigger, so with that in mind, personally I’ll take improved portability via smaller size over larger size and a still subpar computer experience.
Also when I do want a larger portable computing experience, I’m simply going to opt for a laptop instead, for a number of reasons ranging from a physical keyboard, OSes built for general computing work, and a screen size that’s not some awkward in-between of a phone and a tablet yet still isn’t as good as a larger laptop screen.
Edit: Adding here that I’ve also given tablets a fair shake, as I had a Nexus 7 back when Google was trying to do tablets, and have briefly dabbled with iPads here & there. They’re not bad devices, but they’re supplementary computing devices imo, not primary ones (i.e. for more involved document creation/programming/creative activity, etc.).
You make a real good point.
My laptop’s my primary driver, and the device I go to when I need to do any real work. I sometimes get frustrated trying to do something on my phone and switch to my laptop because it’s far more efficient. My phone’s for doomscrolling and music primarily, so I don’t need all the bells and whistles.
For my mum, on the other hand, her phone is her primary driver and the big screen is especially useful with aging eyes so she can make the font bigger and still have real estate. The pocket thing isn’t an issue either because she just throws it into her purse.
Though, she does drop her phone and crack the screen way more often than I do, bit unwieldy when they hit the phablet size. 🤔 I wonder if manufacturers like that, more money in warranties/repairs.
Small hands. My Pixel 4a is as big as I’ll go at 5.8", as I can reach the other side of the phone with my thumb to type one-handed.
Unironically if there was enough demand they would be made. Even the iPhone mini failed in market penetration, not to mention things like the Sony compacts and the Zenfones.
I switched to a Pixel 7 today from a Xiaomi Android phone. I always felt my existing phone was too big, and when looking for a new one the first thing I did was go to gsmarena and search for a phone released relatively recently with a smaller screen. Literally the only result was the Iphone SE.
The Pixel phone is practically the same size as my existing phone, just a tad smaller and just a tad heavier. But there is a significant difference in the gesture support, which is usually something I don’t bother with. The result is that the basic system navigation and app switching can be done with my right hand only, in its normal holding position. The swipe from the left to go back a screen can be done from the bottom of the screen, so I don’t need to stretch my thumb up and across to do it from the middle of the screen.
Stretching unnaturally is still required to swipe down from the top of the screen, or I guess if third party app design puts buttons in the top left. But as a software solution to this hardware problem which also preserves the larger screen size for cases where that’s useful or desired, I think it’s pretty good.
Interesting feedback
you should be able to install a custom ROM that allows you to have notification bar on bottom so that you can swipe up.
I figured out that the swipe down doesn’t need to begin from the actual notification bar, like it does on my older Android phones. I can just naturally extend my thumb up to halfway up the screen and swipe down from there. Doesn’t work if I have scrollable content already on screen though
@LordShrek @gila iphones used to have the control center by swiping up. Took a while to adjust to doing it from the top right. Wish we had the option to add it to the bottom
Wish we had the option to add it to the bottom
@apple @android feature request here. submitting ticket.
The comments section of a post like this feels like early reddit. Love it!
I adored my Pixel 3a. The size was perfect in my opinion. Small enough to handle with one hand and to put it in my pockets, big enough to enjoy watching videos on it. The Samsung S10e was lovely too.
I don’t have sources but I remember them stating that small form factor phones were not selling too well. So I guess we won’t see many flagship or even midrange phones in the near future.
There’s definitely a market for these - my partner prefers a more compact phone, it has been harder and harder to get a decently spec’d small phone of late. There are certain niche markets for small devices and alwasy will be
but the big phone manufacturers don’t realize there’s a market for this and they completely neglect that. or rather, they know that there’s a market for it but they know it won’t make them enough profit so they stick with the mainstream, which is a huge shame. i’m sure that there are engineers working at google, samsung, etc. who would love to work on smaller phones, phones with other unique hardware such as trackballs, but aren’t able to because of “turn everything into money” mindset.
It is strange, it may be a small market niche (pun intended) but surely its worthwhile for someone to jump into it, particularly given that it could be satisfied with existing technology, no great advances required
Life is your creation. :)
This is something I don’t really understand. People will always talk about how smaller phones don’t sell well, but there are a lot of products that are aimed at much smaller niches and do very well, but barely any company creates phones for that niche.
The only one I know is cubot, a chinese brand who makes the cubot pocket, the king kong mini, and the cubot j10. I hope they succeed and consolidate the small smartphone niche.