Why can't we go back to small phones?

Because contrary to the popular opinion in tech forums, bigger phones are more popular with the general public. The iPhone Pro Max is more popular than the Pro and likewise with the Galaxy S Ultra compared to the rest of the Galaxy S models. Don't believe me? Check Counterpoint or any other market research study. Granted more manufacturers should make more phones that are iPhone 16/Galaxy S25 sized as the base iPhone ends up on top of those charts every single year but it seemed like Chinese OEMs didn't want to do that until they could fit a really large battery in there. They're doing that now but it seems like global availability is limited.
Always makes me laugh when small phone users blame the lack of popularity of the mini on the iPhone SE and completely ignore the huge difference in price. Price may not be considered important in enthusiast circles but it is probably the deciding factor for a vast majority of buyers. It's also funny how the regular sized iPhone still ends up being the best selling phone in the world despite the SE being in between both sizes. Apple tried the mini experiment for two years, I wonder what's the excuse for the 13 mini being a failure despite the SE not getting an update that year. Yeah it got one in 2022 but the mini still sold abysmally compared to the rest of the lineup if you look at Q1 results.
Additionally if the SE took sales away from the mini like it's fans say then shouldn't it have taken away sales from the base iPhone as well? Yet they never make that argument and insist on coming up with even more outlandish theories like saying a Pro version would be the best selling model globally when logically it would have garbage battery life to fit the Pro's cameras. We've already seen this with the iPhone 16e as it manages to fit a significantly larger battery compared to the iPhone 14 because it has a smaller camera that occupies less space.

My mother would have trouble using a small phone at its default display scale. Large text, small screens and poorly designed UIs do not mix.

The history of large phones, from a technical standpoint:
LTE required a lot more power than 2G/3G until efficiencies were improved, this required a larger battery to have comparable battery life, doubly so on the phones that ran two modems (mostly Verizon) one for 3G, one for 4G
LTE required larger antennas as their low band frequencies were lower than previous cellular tech. (750MHz and later 600MHz vs 850MHz being the old lowest)
Handset manufacturers then stopped making smaller product lines even after efficiencies improved
People ("consumers") realized they'd rather not buy a phone, tablet, watch, computer, anal implant, and preferred to just buy one device, settling on an oversized phone was enough between phone/tablet that they only needed to waste money on one device
The market then went, "people prefer larger phones," even though smaller phones were waning/outliers
Tablets outside of Apple's ostensibly died, although there are a few more choices these days that aren't Apple
Now phones have so many antennae
WiFi/BT (which are often shared)
WiFi 6 new band
NFC
Wireless charging coil
Ultra Wideband
20 or 30 various cellular bands with 4x antennae for MIMO
mmWave (in America)
Phones also have gigantic camera systems (although since Samsung gave up on 10x optical, they shrunk slightly on that platform)
The cycle repeated itself a bit with 5G, the channels are so wide and huge, they can suck a lot of power when doing large data transfers, and also the addition of needing a separate amp/chip for 5G above sub6 as well as additional cooling
"AI" stuff that requires more ML compute, and thus cooling and battery capacity, even though again, nobody wanted it
All the metrics and analytics handset manufacturers constantly run on users, disabling all this alone would probably make your average phone last 3+ days
Since then, more and more people are trying to get flip phones, dumbphones, imported small phones, or giving up on phones entirely and switching to devices like the Lilygo T-Deck LoRaWAN device that has...dun dun dunnnnn....a literal BlackBerry keyboard, as people are sick of that fabled market deciding for them.
- The people switching to dumb phones is a very small market. Apple probably sells more iPhones in a day then dumb phones sold in a year.

I just want Sony to re-release the Xperia XZ1 Compact with updated internals.

I just want a dedicated headphone jack.
- I finally had to retire my dying LG V30 that I wanted to keep forever because it had a headphone jack.
  I like the power and build quality of flagship phones but no flagships have a headphone jack anymore so fuck em. I'm not gonna spend upwards of $1000 for a phone that doesn't have the features I want.
  I ended up buying a cheap Motorola that has a headphone jack, wireless charging, and an SD card slot. I do miss the AOD that is only available on OLED displays though. It's a bit chonkier than I'd like but overall for 300 bucks I'm pretty happy.
  
  What Motorola did you get?
  
  I had a Galaxy S6 that I was keeping because it had the headphone jack and an IR blaster. I wasn't daily driving it but always knew where it was just in case. Dug it out recently to charge it up and discovered the dreaded battery bloat. Safely disposed of it and reminisced on its halcyon days.
- Then buy a device that has one. The fact that so many models dropped it just made picking a new device so much easier because there's less to choose from.
  
  I pretty much had to buy Sony if I wanted to have a headphone jack. Phone was way too expensive so I hope it lasts a while, came with headphones included though

for many it is their primary interface to the internet. I have simply come to accept that flagship phones are no longer made for me.
When my S10e finally needs to become landfill I'll be looking at e-ink phones not the latest and greatest tablet parading as a phone.
- My current device has more features than most flagships despite not being one. Headphone jack, microSD, dual sim, removable battery, ip67, notification led, no camera bump ...
  
  What phone are you using? Those are the features I want in a phone but I couldn't find anything that works on Verizon in North America.
  
  missing the 1 feature we're actually talking about, but holy shit if I was ever in the market for a 2nd monitor for a phone ... How they sell anything else is beyond me.
- S10E GANG S10E GANG Greatest phone ever made I'm using it until I get my identity stolen
  
  I still have my S10e in service, thing's running fine. Just like the S4 Mini before it that I retired way after I probably should have.
  Whoever Nokia is now under the brand "HMD" is offering repairable phones...with no word said for software longevity, so you can expect the thing to stay relevant and usable for 4 years or less. "This product has already been killed 4 years from now" is a conversation ender.
  
  Well the last security update was nearly two years ago, so unless you've found a good custom ROM then that might be sooner than you think ;)

Because most of us don't want to.
- In case you want to be pissed off, the reason why iPhone mini didn't sell is because when someone is conditioned to buy an iPhone, it is more profitable for sellers to literally lie about not having the cheapest option. More people will choose to buy an expensive phone, offsetting buyers who walk out because the mini isn't being sold. Monopolies suck, and people who support them also suck.
- Lots of us are getting older so it's harder to see on small phones. I'm gonna shill for those fold phones, honestly. Who needs a tablet when you can have this phone in your pocket? Full youtube screen with comments, outlook that lets you actually read the email while still seeing your inbox, tabs in your browser, folds up to let you use it as a regular phone when you're not looking for more.
  Sorry, I can't go back at this point.
- yeah but I want the option and I'm upset I dont have it. my pockets are too small and every time I sit down in the car my damn phone falls out. Ive almost closed it in the door 4 times now

I’d be willing to bet that most people in the world want a bigger phone.
I downsized to a iPhone 15 Pro from a iPhone 13 Pro Max thinking that I wanted a smaller phone, but I find myself missing it and planning to upgrade to the larger variety come the iPhone 17 launch. Typing has been an absolute nightmare for my hands on this smaller phone. I make more mistakes and it’s uncomfortable.
I also miss the larger screen size for viewing videos, but it’s not the end of the world there since I also have an iPad and other devices better suited for videos.
But people forget how the iPhones, in particular, were criticized by a lot of people, especially on the Android side, for not having as big of phones and Apple finally caved a few years after Steve passed. I think Steve Jobs is what held back iPhones to the smaller size they had for so long.
- A larger phone is nicer to sit down and use with both hands, and while that is a primary use case for many people, it isn't for me. I want my phone to emphasize portability and one-handed use.
  I think there's a viable market niche for a small phone, bi but I wonder if small phone customers might be unprofitable for other reasons.
  
  I double tap my home button and the screen shinks down to one handed use. I do whatever I need with one hand, double tap again, and we're back to full size. Only bad thing about the big phone is you need a big pocket.
  
  I wonder if we get adaptable phones that have interchangeable screens, projection based interface, AR glasses/contacts with a powerful microprocessor, or neurolink direct feed into our optic nerve first
- When I returned to a smaller phone, it felt small for like 5 days. Then it felt normal and fine. And it had better battery life and is easier to deal with all day long. I hate bigger phones
- I went from a Note 9 to an iPhone 13 mini and have the opposite experience, the smaller and lighter phone is easier on the wrist and being able to reach most of the screen with just my thumb is pretty great.

I'm... I'm using a flip phone

I can definitely recommend the kingkong mini

Found my blackberry torch in a drawer a while ago. Man I love that thing, great size, solid pocket ability, great keyboard.

I've switched fully to a 3" Unihertz Jelly Star in September. It took A LOT of customization to get it to become the "Intent" device that I had wanted it to be. But by now, it makes all unwanted behavior sufficiently difficult while allowing all modern conveniences such as IM, payments, tickets, navigation etc.
I'll do a proper blogpost series about it some day.
If consuming content is how you want to spend your energy & lifetime, then the bigger & brighter & more-HDR-than-life the better. I hope you find happiness. But if you at some point tire of not-creating and cannot stand spending your time as a targeted money-sack, then tiny phones are a good way out.

I'm still using an iPhone mini and I haven't experienced any bad layouts, broken websites, or any difficulty like that. It has the same resolution of the biggest iPhone I've ever had (iPhone X) so things are smaller, which would make it a poor fit for someone with poor vision, but for me it's an absolutely perfect phone. It's frustrating to know that the perfect phone for me could easily exist, and yet Apple will refuse to make it for me. I'll be stuck with phones I don't like for the rest of my life, it seems.

Motorola razr 2024 when closed is the perfect small phone. Almost all apps work on the small square screen.
- I have a Mode 7 Retro ii from Japan. The number pad? Useless. But it folds up and fits in my pocket, and is good enough. (Writing this on my tablet, so...)

I have no problems with broken applications on my Zenfone 8
- what do you mean by broken?
  
  Like in the article — maybe not totally broken, but not optimized for such a small screen. I think though that my phone has a slightly bigger screen than iPhone SE.
  I think that 5.9" is a good compromise

Remember. Phones didn't start increasing in size until you were able to watch porn on them.
With porn being available all the time, phones will start with huge screens.
- until you were able to watch porn
  You mean you never watched 3gpp encoded 240p porn over WAP sites via a java browser on your dumb phone?
  ....what? Stop judging me.
  
  I used to watch porn on my Nintendo DS Lite.
  I say "watch", but I don't think it supported videos. GIFs at best. On that glorious 256x192 TFT touchscreen.
  
  I stacked DVD cases on the desk to act as a tripod while filming the computer screen. To hear audio it needed to be extremely loud while recording. Also, it's quite boring having to actually sit thorough an entire porn video without skipping.
- Reminds me of this.
- To make our dicks look small? Nice. Real nice.

Because you don't buy small ones.

I loved small phones comeback in our society, but small phones has a little bit issue compared to normal sized phones nowadays like :
Small battery capacity.
Usually comes with shitty hardware.
Small screen size means it's only fit to used it for chat app (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, etc...).
Lack of apps support since many apps nowadays ship for normal size phone, phablet, & tablet

Because small phones suck. Every time my parents or my other older family members hand me their old tiny phone, I wonder how the heck they can even use them? Text entry, tapping on things, etc is so damned hard when everything's so close together and my fingers are so fat.
- Because fat fingers suck. Every time my parents or my other older family members use their ginormous phones, i wonder how the heck they can even use them? Text entry, tapping on things, etc is so damned hard when everything’s so close together for my fat fingers.
  Jk ofc, i have a small phone, more than enough room for everything + you can scale things up/down however you want. Not ideal for playing games or watching movies, but i don’t use my phone for that.