Kuo: The new iPhone 14 Plus is less popular than the iPhone 13 mini it replaced

Apple sold a mini iPhone for two whole years with the iPhone 12 mini and 13 mini, but for the iPhone 14 series, the company opted to sell the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus instead of a 5.4-inch iPhone 14 mini and so far, the former is less popular according to Ming-Chi Kuo.

According to Kuo, in the iPhone 14 series’ survey for the first weekend available for pre-order shows that both the all-new 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus and the standard 6.1-inch iPhone 14 have had fewer pre-orders than last year’s 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini and even the iPhone SE (3rd-gen).

“iPhone 14 and 14 Plus will be in stock on launch day, reflecting lackluster demand. As it stands now, the pre-order result for iPhone 14 and 14 Plus is worse than iPhone SE 3 and iPhone 13 mini. The iPhone 14 Plus is the replacement for the iPhone 13 mini. However, this new product’s pre-order result is significantly lower than expected, meaning Apple’s product segmentation strategy for standard models fails this year.“

Ming-Chi Kuo

One thing Kuo is missing from these statement however is some context and nuance. At this time last year, the economy was much better off than it is now. With rising interest rates, inflation and a nearly frozen housing market, many families are pinching their pennies and may not be able to justify spending money on a new iPhone. Kuo also lends some important details on why the iPhone 14 models may not be doing as well as projected, because the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are getting all the attention and subsequently all the pre-orders too.

Pre-order results of iPhone 14 Pro Max, Pro, and two standard models are good, neutral, and bad, respectively (vs. iPhone 13 series).

Ming-Chi Kuo

The new iPhone 14 Pro is an all-new iPhone despite looking nearly identical from the backside. The iPhone 14 Pro series feature the new A16 Bionic chip, the Dynamic Island and a new 48MP main snapper, all without an accompanying price increase. As for the unpopularity of the iPhone 12 mini and 13 mini. I have maintained that I believe that the mini iPhone models would have been more popular had it been in the iPhone SE price territory. The current iPhone SE sells for $429. I would posit that perhaps the best strategy is sell this year’s iPhone 13 mini as the next iPhone SE. Once of the chief issues with the iPhone 13 mini has always been its high cost at $699, but currently the iPhone 12 mini is selling for $599. Could a supposed (4th-generation) iPhone SE, which is based on the iPhone 13 mini sell for as little as $499?

Apple is keeping the iPhone 13 mini around next year like it has kept the iPhone 12 mini, but is only selling the iPhone 12 instead of the 12 mini this year. Will Apple give us a new iPhone XR or even an iPhone 13 mini for the iPhone SE 4? According to display analyst Ross Young, the iPhone SE 4 could ship with a 5.7-inch display, something more akin to what is on the 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini and 5.8-inch iPhone X-iPhone XS.