Because every time a manufacturer releases a small phone, nobody buys them.

Too small, can’t phone

I don’t know how you youngsters do it.
One hand eternally glued to this big phone and now they need the other for a soup thermos they suddenly feel the need to drag with them everywhere.

Because apparently people want big phones.

For the last 10-15 years it’s been a boiling frog situation really - .1 or .2" increase every generation until 7" somehow becomes the norm (for a phone, not a tablet, mind you).

I wish there were more small hi-end phones too.

If they’re going to make only bog phones they could at least bring back all the hardware features they’ve removed over the years.

“Why can’t we go back to small phones”

Company releases small phone

“No one” buys it

Company stops making small phones

People complaining why there are no small phones

Seriously.

I don’t want a tablet in my pocket all day.

I bought my current phone because it was small and the options I had when looking for small phones were extremely limited.

I’m not trying to seriously game on a smartphone. I’m not trying to watch full length movies. It’s in my pocket 90% of the time. I want it to be small.

You can. Ditch Apple and join us. Plenty of small phone selections here on the other side. Edit: you know what. Android doesn’t have that many either.

Why is the article using diagonal screen size as their measurement for phone size? In that case you could have a phone the exact same size get “bigger” just because bezel sizes have shrunk over the years.

They specifically call out the iPhone SE as a “small phone” that they seem to want. But the newest iPhone, the iPhone 16 is only 6% bigger in width and height. Fractions of an inch larger. I can totally understand why somebody would want a phone with smaller overall dimensions, but why on earth would your metric for an ideal phone be a smaller screen?

Bigger screens mean bigger and more obtrusive ads.

I’m convinced this is 90% of the reason right here.

Even for the government you need apps nowadays. Yes you can try doing things in person but wait times aren’t reasonable. I’ve been trying to get a dumb phone for myself but still find I need a smartphone for specific apps a couple of times a month…

I don’t see why we don’t already have an iPod size device. I just need something for music and if a phone call happens to come in - great! It was so simple then.

I do, I bought smallest phone available from known company. But most of those companies just decided you need huge phone that can’t fit everywhere, removed sdcard slot, removed headphone jack. Last time I remember nobody asked them to remove those features. I think it is the same enshittification like with everything, they no longer make cheap houses, smaller cheaper cars, actual budget gpus etc, etc. Feels like every company targets top 20% and the rest - gtfo and be damned.

Because most people use their phone as their main, if not only, device, so a bigger screen is more desirable to consume content.

I was small phone enjoyer until my Sony Z3 Compact. I really liked it, but after it died, I tried bigger phones and I couldn’t go back.