I am actually optimistic that we might get the mini again now the 16e is priced at $599. There is a space for Mini at $499.
Part of the problem with Mini was its battery life. It seems 16e is improving on exactly that. Although I think it wont be 5.4" again since it was too small compared to the rest of the line up where it is usually 20% bigger screen to next size up.
I don’t think there is space, because the production costs of a mini model aren’t substantially lower. Remember that when the 12 mini launched, its price was the same as the 11, and the regular 12 got $100 more expensive.
The mini did exactly and precisely bump up the whole product range pricing. So the regular iPhone 12 got to $799 instead of $699. A 16e Mini will make the 16e product range starts at $499.
I just don’t think that a 16e mini at $499 would give Apple enough margin. The Face ID components are reportedly not cheap, OLED is also more expensive than LCD, they didn’t up the price to $599 just for fun.
OLED is not expensive and can be cheaper than LCD. There is nothing expensive about BOM in iPhone 16e. Face ID used in the current notch form is also not expensive. We are 7 years into FaceID component already. There are reason why Android could pay Qualcomm for SoC while still selling for $199. It is selling 16e at 14 price range with one camera less, which is actually a relatively expensive part in terms of BOM and extra GB of memory. Along with cost saving of its own modem, the $599 is there not to cannibalise sales on 16 which is the heavy margin product range.
Part of the problem with Mini was its battery life. It seems 16e is improving on exactly that. Although I think it wont be 5.4" again since it was too small compared to the rest of the line up where it is usually 20% bigger screen to next size up.
May be 5.6" or even 5.8" as the original X.