last fall apple introduced four new
iphones the 12
mini 12 12 pro and 12 pro max
the most notable of which was the 12
mini since it was the first time
apple ever introduced a mini iphone
model and it received a lot of attention
but despite the excitement the 12 mini
experienced disappointing sales
resulting in many news outlets and
analysts declaring the model of failure
but i have a different opinion and in
this video i'm going to outline how
people were led to believe the 12 mini
failed
and why i think it's actually been a
wild success for apple
this is greg with apple explained and i
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alright now the iphone 12 mini
represented a new sales strategy for
apple
in today's smartphone market smaller
devices are generally associated with
lower cost
for example the wildly popular iphone se
with its 4.7 inch display
is apple's smallest and cheapest model
at 400 dollars
but the mini comes in at 700. not to
mention most smartphone manufacturers
have been working to include the largest
displays possible
even in their lowest cost devices when
considering the budget android market
most smartphones have a screen size
larger than 6 inches
but apple has never been one to follow
trends
they figure that there's a substantial
segment of customers who'd prefer a
smaller phone like the se
with premium features included with
larger models
it's something many people online have
been requesting for years
and with the 12 mini they finally
received
apple heavily marketed the device with
billboards all over the world
highlighting the size difference between
the largest 12 pro max
and smallest 12 mini this marketing
approach made
sense since the mini was the most
affordable model in apple's premium
smartphone lineup at seven hundred
dollars
and historically iphone models in that
position tend to sell the best
like the heavily marketed 700 iphone 11
which ended up being the world's
best-selling smartphone of 2020
but apple made a crucial error when
forecasting the 12 mini's demand
they underestimated how many people
wanted a smaller phone with a smaller
display and smaller battery
and it's easy to see how this happened
consider the iphone
se it's been a sales success and it has
the smallest display and battery out of
any iphone model since the 8.
but those aren't the reasons why people
buy the se the reason
is it's mouth-watering 400 price tag
that's rarely seen in the smartphone
industry today
but the 12 mini 700 starting price just
didn't turn heads
for most it was a matter of apple asking
more for less
after all seven hundred dollars used to
buy you a 6.1 inch display with the
iphone 11
but today gets you just 5.4 inches
so for many customers who had been
enjoying the larger displays of their
iphone 11
10r or even 10 didn't consider the
smaller 12 mini to be an upgrade
so instead they looked to other models
and this is where things get even more
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domain all right now logically you'd
expect customers who passed up the 12
mini
to purchase its larger counterpart the
800 dollar iphone 12.
that way they'd only be spending a
hundred dollars more for a larger
display and battery that they'd enjoyed
with previous models
but that's not what happened instead
customers flocked to the
12 pro which was 200 more than the 12.
both models had the same 6.1 inch
display but the 12 pro
offers a telephoto lens a lidar sensor
double the storage space
and a stainless steel design instead of
aluminum it's unclear why
so many customers opted for the 12 pro
but it came as a surprise to apple
who increased production of its lidar
censorships just one week after the
model went on sale
to prevent long lead times but while the
12 pro was getting a production boost
the 12 mini was receiving a production
cut some suppliers were even asked to
temporarily stop making components for
the 12 mini altogether
initially apple estimated the model
would account for 10 to 15 percent of
all iphone sales
but that number turned out to be just 5
and it prompted apple to cut production
even further for the rest of 2021
this sparked a flurry of rumors about
the future of the mini
with some saying apple would end
production of the model altogether in
early 2021
and others speculating that the planned
iphone 13 mini would be
cancelled according to these articles
the 12 mini was an
unmitigated disaster a failed product
that apple would never try to make again
but these analysts were short-sighted
the 12 mini itself may not have met
apple's sales expectations
but that doesn't mean its existence was
pointless in fact the 12
mini may have been the catalyst that
caused apple to become the top
smartphone manufacturer in the world
over the last 6 months
enjoying a sales increase of 38 compared
to the same time period the previous
year
and that resulted in apple bringing a
record 111 billion in revenue in quarter
one of 2021
which was the first time in history that
the companies broke 100 billion
so how did the 12 mini fuel the success
of apple's entire iphone line
well it actually has everything to do
with the problems i mentioned earlier
since customers didn't think the 12 mini
was worth the 700
price they were directed to apple's more
expensive models
this raised the iphone's average selling
price to 873 dollars
a significant jump from 809 the previous
year
we've also failed to consider how the 12
mini may have actually
expanded the iphone's user base
appealing to people who wanted a premium
smartphone
that actually fits in their small hands
and pockets
something smartphone manufacturers
haven't offered in years
so if you judge the 12 mini solely by
its sales
sure it didn't sell as well as apple
expected but that may actually be a good
thing
because it encouraged customers who
wanted larger displays
to spend more on the higher priced
models and it brought more users into
the iphone ecosystem in general
resulting in a record-breaking year for
the iphone lineup
and an extremely profitable year for
apple in general
and at the end of the day making more
money is kind of what apple's aiming for
so i'd say the 12 mini is here to stay
and i expect it to receive regular
updates in the coming years
just like every other iphone model
alright guys thanks for watching till
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