Old ladies love their mini iPhone, and are still hanging on.
Rarely have I seen an iPhone 12 or 13 mini in the wild. Besides my iPhone 12 mini (which I sold to an old lady), I have only seen one other person with one.
I went for a Genius Bar appointment a few days ago and as I was waiting, and an older lady was there with her iPhone 12 mini trying to see why it wouldn’t charge from the lightning port. I didn’t hear everything that was going on, but she was having charging issues because she got the liquid-detection alert on her iPhone 12 mini. Apparently she might have shorted a few of the pins on her iPhone, and her charging was acting weird. They cleaned out her port and told her it is charging for now, but you might want to upgrade.
She asked about the latest iPhone mini, and the Genius told her there is no more mini, and this is the smallest iPhone (showing her a store model iPhone 16).
“What??!” She said, “No more mini?”
She was dumbfounded, and I felt bad for her. We, the enthusiast, were aware the mini would be discontinued about a year in advance when the 13 mini was released, but to get the news like that must have been a shock to her system.
After she was done talking and was about to leave, I couldn’t help myself and felt compelled to step in. I gave her the suggestion to use a magnetic charging pad if her lighting port ever stops working again, pointing and showing her the MagSafe puck sitting on the Genius table.
She thanked me but said she will stick to charging via the lightning cable for now since that’s what she’s used to. At least now she is fully informed and has a backup plan if her lightning port does go completely dead.
I did my due diligence.
The second old lady is someone I know who bought my iPhone 12 mini a few years ago. She still uses her iPhone 12 mini to this day, even though the font size on it is maxed out and you can only see 3 lines of text on the screen.
She barely uses her phone and only uses it when she needs to, so it’s not a big deal for her. She loves the portability of it considering she treats it like a Light phone. Basic calls and messages and maybe a bit of social media to keep up with family. Half the time she forgets it at home because she actively wants to use a smartphone less and not be hooked on it.
Smart lady.
It’s been through hell and back since I gave it to her, and she has had the battery and screen replaced after shattering it. Not sure how much longer it will last, but it’s been 4 years and counting.
That’s the story of the iPhone mini, barely hanging on until they all go extinct.
Fun fact - both these iPhones 12 mini were (PRODUCT)RED.