Miss the iPhone mini? Now's the perfect time for small phones to make a comeback

Towards the end of last year, I wrote that 6.3 inches is the best size for a smartphone, with the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro nailing the phone dimensions I want.

This isn't exactly a revelation: over the past decade, the screen sizes of all smartphones have ballooned. I remember when the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ came out with a 5.7-inch screen, seen as a large screen at the time, yet now they have the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with a 6.9-inch display and a design that pushes the definition of pocketability.

Apple did try to cater to people with smaller hands with the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini, but these got discontinued pretty quickly – seemingly down to poor sales – and now the smallest phone Apple has is the iPhone 16e with a 6.1-inch display.