Apple iPhone 13 mini: can you still buy it?
In retrospect it's surprising that the iPhone 13 mini appeared at all considering the iPhone 12 mini sales
The last ‘mini’ iPhone – the entry-level iPhone 13 mini –has officially been discontinued. However, there is still a little stock available from various outlets, see our deals below.
The iPhone 13 mini was culled from the iPhone lineup after the launch of the iPhone 15. In retrospect, it’s surprising that the iPhone 13 mini appeared at all. Read on to find out why.
The iPhone 12 mini was the first smaller flagship iPhone introduced at an October 2021 event.
It had a compact 5.4in screen compared to the iPhone 13’s larger 6.1in display and many thought that it would be a big (ha) success. But it only took a few months after the reveal for things to go awry.
CIRP data in January 2021 suggested that around only 6% of US iPhone 12 devices sold were of the mini variety. Still Apple would be a success on launch. Later, analysts reported that the iPhone 13 mini sales were worse than that of the other variants. Just as with the iPhone 12 mini.
By the time Apple realised that iPhone 12 mini wasn’t selling well, the plans for the iPhone 13 mini were presumably set in stone. Apple clearly decided to give it another try. Though they didn’t give it much airtime during the 2021 iPhone 13 launch event.
The iPhone 14 series saw Apple ditch the mini device, and there’s no iPhone 15 mini either. Revising the iPhone line-up alongside the new handsets, the iPhone 13 mini is no longer available from Apple. But it is still available from some retailers as you can see here:
Other budget iPhone options
Part of the reason for the slow iPhone 12/13 mini sales has to be that the iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone XR and iPhone 11 were all still available. And for cheaper prices than the mini. After all, the mini was still a flagship phone despite the size of the display. And the iPhone XR was priced at $499/£499 at the time.
Now the iPhone SE (2022) is the cheaper and smaller iPhone option. It has a 4.7in display, though it still retains the home button, unlike the newer Face ID models. Surely the 4th generation iPhone SE will finally be the model to go full screen? Though we’re not expecting this before Spring 2024 at the earliest.
Unlike the lower-end SE, the insides of the iPhone 12 mini were the same as that of the main iPhone 12. And it was the same when the iPhone 13 was released. The hardware was premium, it was just that it was a smaller size. Will an iPhone mini ever return? Currently, it looks like the answer to that is ‘definitely not’.
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
