thoughts on the slow death of small phones

I'm only worried about the damn thing getting in the way, and it not fitting comfortably in my hand, and having to carry it in my hand because it's too gigantic to fit in a pocket. That being said, I usually have a backpack with me and it could hold a laptop, so not too big a deal. Plus, I have a holder with a belt clip.
I do benefit from a screen, even though I'm totally blind. I sometimes need to show pictures to sighted people, or ask them about something on the screen. It might be nice to have more area for things to fit on the screen too, or at least make the buttons a little larger.

I'd certainly prefer a smaller form factor, especially as I have an iPad mini with me most of the time. The issue, however, is battery. Small form factors just don't have the staying power for reasonable use and battery anxiety is a thing.

I'm sure there are good arguments for ubiquity in size for developers. Designing for a significantly smaller screen creates issues of layout, button size etc.

I'm just trying to think if this could be argued from an accessibility standpoint, and I don't know if it can. The question is, are we disadvantaged by the size of current phones due to our disability and, I think, the answer is no. My preference is for smaller form factor but with the performance of the larger siblings, which just isn't really possible.

It will be interesting to see if apple ever release a foldable and whether they use the form factor to maximise a screen size we can carry in our pockets or significantly shrink the device in a folded form. I suspect it will be the former though who knows.

I wouldn't go so far as to wonder if disability groups need to put pressure on tech companies to make a smaller form factor. The fact of the matter is, bigger screen, bigger battery, better sounding speakers and probably better mics as well. I won't say that having a larger phone is easy to hold sometimes, yet thanks to women never needing a pocket, my larger phone will slip into my purse and be fine. What I meant by my subject line is as soon as Apple changes something, people have this en mass panic moment. It happened with the headphone jack, then the home button left. Unless or until I really have an issue such as if Apple goes for the haptic feedback of volume buttons, I take things in stride. I'd rather get the price of phones down then the size. I remember paying 300 bucks and you have your phone. Now upgrade each year, or spend twenty bucks a month for three years to pay it off. What if your phone you just paid off is now not supported? I'm not one to have the latest and greatest each year, but with little changing but cameras each year, I don't see much point. Now i'd like to upgrade to maybe a 14 but until then, my 12 will be fine. I do try to upgrade when a phone is near it's end of life as I don't relish the idea of an out of date OS.

There is a lot of change for profit margin sake in the tech world. The loss of the audio jack is a good example. True, for most, bluetooth headphones are convenient and fit into their lives better but they sound significantly worse than wired alternatives and introduce several other issues such as charging requirements, more easily lost and, as with any such tech that evolves so quickly, will be thrown away in just a few years. Blindly, and please forgive the term, accepting that technology is working for our best interest is naive. They tell us we need new stuff, not because it will enable us to live an enriched or contented life, but because it makes them money. I've upgraded my phone too many times to count and, is my life actually that much better, if at all, than when I first got a speaking iPhone? I don't think so.

I'm going to counter your subject line because it was rude:

A lot of this is lack of acceptance of mindlessly purchasing products we don't actually want, and an ability to question the reason for change.

As much as we'd like Apple to do X Y or Z with hardware and/or software, the sad truth is they don't care. Apple does whatever they want unless forced to change something by entities such as the EU, and only because the threat of not being able to do business is far more important than their elitist attitude. That's it! We need to initiate a global policy that stipulates that Apple cannot sell their products unless they constantly ensure accessibility features work for everyone, and bugs are promptly resolved. You'd better believe Tim would change his tune really quick! What a lovely pipe dream!
The removal of the headphone jack isn't courageous. Rather, it's an attempt to push their overpriced Bluetooth headphones, as well as increasing the market for MFi Lightning accessories. Rather than providing users with a choice of whether they want to use Face or Touch ID, the elitists have decided everyone will be just fine using Face ID. If not, that's too bad. You either play by the rules in Apple land, or GTFO!
Apple is also really good at the whole planned obsolescence thing, and I can't 100% blame them. Their business model is selling hardware, so they have tons of incentive to get as many people to get new devices as often as possible. This doesn't mean I like it, not at all. Aldous Huxley was spot on in Brave New World!

there is an excellent anecdote about Henry Ford.

After a few years of the Model T being out in the world, he sent engineers out across North America to seek out his popular and affordable cars and see what parts were wearing out first.

His engineers return and reported that, in the majority of cases, a part of the steering column was failing and, being engineers, they assumed that they would be sent to their drawing boards to fix the issue. They were surprised then when Henry told them, not to fix the problem, but decrease the longevity of all the other components in the car, his reasoning being, he didn't want to make his product last longer, he wanted people to buy new ones more regularly.

And here we are, in a world where giants such as apple attempt to push more products on us under the misdirection that they are good to the environment. Carbon neutral, even using recycled materials is a far cry of do no harm. The absolute best way of protecting the environment would be for apple to have les frequent product updates. We've all seen how desperate they have become in recent times to fill a two hour presentation in September with its excessive hyperbole and repeated assurances that this is the best iPhone ever...

And this is my trouble with apple. They do make some great products, case in point, the AirPods Pro 2 are one of the most valuable gadgets in my tech pouch, but they try to obfuscate the fact that their main concern is making money with calculated claims that their bloated marketing department have produced to sooth our climate and conservation guilt each time we buy one of their shiny new products. It's disingenuous.

And, on top of this, and returning in a round about way to the origin of this thread... We're not even getting the products we want!... Well, aside from the AirPods Pro 2... They're dope.

Agree to disagree on my subject line. Commitment to the environment for any tech company is a complete farce. It's just keeping the climate change idiots happy. This behavior is true for accessibility commitment also. Despite the competition, it's obvious whatever one company comes up with, the others say hey we can do that, and find an alternative. If Apple's prices keep going through the roof, I don't care how big a screen, I'll spend a smaller amount of money, deal with accessibility hangups just so my computer that answers the phone isn't above the price of a computer which i'm writing on.

I mean it's kinda the point of a phone is to be small, and, like, not heavy, so if I gonna buy me a nice...let's say, iphone 16, next year, finding it's about the size of my first ipad mini, then I might as well have not bought it at all. It's basically an ipad now. I do have something to say, though, about the slow death of the homebutton. Physical sim cards and headphone jacks is the kinda thing I'm ok with losing, but if the next thing Apple decides to eliminate is USB charging, I will just straight up not even think about it. For now, I am still happy enough with my ol' faithful SE 2022.

Hi! As someone with small hands who has always preferred smaller iPhone models for that reason, I have read this thread with interest. I currently have an iPhone SE 2020, which may be considered too old for IOS 18 next year, so I am seriously considering what should be my next phone. I have room for any size phone in my handbag, but even 6.1 inches seems like a big size change after using 4.7-inch phones since I got my iPhone 6 in 2014: however, with the SE 2022 probably not having great battery life, and no more iPhone mini models, that's the size of phone I'll probably end up with. I also have to consider the fact that if I get an iPhone 15 I'll have several Lightning accessories I will no longer be able to use, and I can't predict how well Face ID will work for me, but I'll cross those bridges when I come to them.

I'm not sure where the perception that the iPhone SE 3rd gen has poor battery life comes from, but I've owned one for the past year and a half, and it's not been my experience at all. I regularly get 2 days out of a battery charge. That is, I generally put my phone on to charge every other night. I use it daily for phone calls, texting and listening to audiobooks, podcasts and music. The battery life seems to be somewhat better than that of the iPhone 8 I had before. Perhaps the new Pro models would last me 3 or 4 days between charges, but I'm very, very happy with my iPhone SE 3rd gen and its performance.

That's good to know. I need to upgrade my mum at some point soonish so this sounds like a good choice.

I think the fact is, bigger phones demand bigger prices. The reason the mini for the 12 and 13 never really took off was because they were just about as expensive as a larger phone with greater perceived value. If They'd put them in at a couple of hundred less, they'd have flown off the shelves.

I'm currently writing this from my iPhone 13 Mini, which has provided me with the best and most accessible iOS experience out of all the phones I've had. It's great for one-handed use and works well with my small hands for braille screen input. I have tried using BSI on 5.8-inch and larger phones and it does not work well, even after calibration. Battery life is getting to be an issue with my Mini but I'd rather have a phone I can comfortably use that needs a charge once in a while than a phone I cannot use that happens to not need charge as much. I hope that Apple releases a small phone with reasonable specs (maybe even the LIDAR sensor for outdoor navigation) at some point but I'm not holding my breath.

It isn't that bad. Face ID works well.

As somebody who has mainly owned small phones since I started my Apple Korea, I personally don’t like the way Apple is going when it comes to making bigger phones at this point I don’t like the way that every company is going like you have tablets for a reason you have like iPads and tablets with like 7 inch and 8 inch and nine and 10 and 11 inches in 12 inches in 13 inches in hell even one of Samsung galaxy tablet, 714.6 inch screen there’s just honestly no need for it on the iPhone or any smart phone Like I’m questioning who won earth would need a 6.9 inch display as blind or visually impaired person.
Dennis honestly is 6.1 inch display might be hard to hold for people who have small hands like me.