The iPhone 12 mini is the smallest of Apple’s most recent generation of iPhones—and that’s apparently turned out to be true for its sales as well. Right from day one, the most miniature of the iPhone 12 series has been dogged with reports that it’s not selling in the quantities of its larger, pricier siblings.
Now a report from investment bank JP Morgan, shared by Apple Insider, claims that Apple could potentially stop producing units of the iPhone 12 mini as soon as the second calendar quarter of 2021. That could mean that the phone could conceivably have just a couple more months before it stops being made altogether.
Adjusting iPhone 12 Orders
The investment note, from JP Morgan supply chain analyst William Yang, also notes some of the other Q2 changes that Apple may be making with the iPhone 12 lineup. Yang claims that Apple will increase numbers of the iPhone 12 Pro Max by 11 million units, the iPhone 12 Pro by an extra 2 million units, and the 2019-era iPhone 11 by an extra 8 million units.
Meanwhile, the regular iPhone 12 units will be cut and 9 million units, while the iPhone 12 mini will be cut by 11 million units—the same number decrease that the iPhone 12 Pro Max is getting as an increase. The report suggests that Apple may stop iPhone 12 mini production completely in the quarter.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that the iPhone 12 mini has been a comparative flop for Apple. A report from Morgan Stanley recently claimed that Apple was cutting iPhone 12 mini orders in the first quarter of 2021.
Meanwhile, a previous report suggested that, while nine of the top 10 smartphones activated on Christmas Day in the United States were iPhones, the iPhone 12 mini was the only one not to make the list. (That’s despite the fact that some much older iPhones were included.)
iPhone 12 Mini: A Surprising Miss
The fact that the iPhone 12 mini seems to have struggled is kind of surprising. It received excellent reviews, and offers a premium iPhone 12 experience, packed into a small form factor.
It includes the same all-screen OLED display as its bigger siblings (albeit slightly smaller), Face ID, A14 Bionic processor, and 5G connectivity. Starting at just $699, it’s the cheapest of Apple’s new iPhones. But it appears that, for whatever reason, it just hasn’t been able to carve out the same kind of success as the larger iPhones this year.
Interestingly, the JP Morgan report suggests that Apple plans to release four more iPhones this year. That would appear to imply that Apple may not be ready to throw in the towel on the smaller “mini” iPhone line just yet. We’ll have to wait until September to see what happens.