It is not “RIP, small flagship phones” time yet! (come out of that coffin, Marques)

“Small phones are dying.”

“There are no good small phones anymore…”

“No one wants to buy a small phone…”

These are statements that we have been hearing for a few years now from various quarters. And they got a new lease of life when Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), one of the world’s leading (and one of our favorite) tech content creators, recently came out with what he termed “more of a rant than anything.”

In a typically sleek and well-presented video, Brownlee said, “Small phones are dead, and we killed them,” concluding the video by placing the Asus Zenfone 10 (which he considers the last small flagship phone) in what seemed like a funeral casket and lying down in a coffin himself after declaring “RIP, the small flagship phone.”

Oi, Marques, this is us knocking on that coffin. Come out. The small flagship phone is not dead.

Well, not yet, anyway.

In fact, no less than FIVE of the highest-selling phones of 2023 were of about the same size as the Asus Zenfone 10, whose death you are mourning.

And this is not a ploy by us to save our favorite tech content creator (we are not above doing that, but this is us being really sincere). The fact IS that while the era of really – really REALLY – small phones might be over, the “relatively small” flagship is alive and kicking.

Compact phones exist…and sell!

Let us explain. The Asus Zenfone 10, which Marques called a small flagship phone, was 146.5 mm long, 68.1 mm wide, and 9.4 mm thick and weighed 172 grams. This was very close to the Asus Zenfone 9, which was hailed by many for its compact size, and was 146.5 mm long, 68.1 mm wide, and 9.1 mm slim, and weighed 169 grams. It was Asus’ decision to go for a larger-sized Zenfone (the Zenfone 11 Ultra) that made Marques hit the coffin and release that obituary for the small flagship phone.

Now, as per Counterpoint, these were the highest-selling smartphones of 2023:

• iPhone 14
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
• iPhone 14 Pro
• iPhone 13
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15
• Samsung Galaxy A14 5G
• Samsung Galaxy A04e
• Samsung Galaxy A14 4G

Now, as the talk is mainly about small flagship phones, we can leave out the three Samsung Galaxy A series phones in the last three places, as they are all budget and not flagships by any measure. That leaves us with the iPhones, each of which can easily be called a flagship:

• iPhone 14
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
• iPhone 14 Pro
• iPhone 13
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15

Now, let us see the sizes and weights of these devices, using the Asus Zenfone 10 as a benchmark

Now, while there is no doubt that there are two pretty big phones there – the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the fascinating part is that five of the seven highest-selling premium flagships in the world in 2023 are very close to the size and three are close to the weight of the Asus Zenfone 10i, which was hailed as a compact flagship.

The iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 are within a millimeter of the length of the Zenfone (the iPhone 13 is just 1.1 mm taller), and while they are all 2.1-2.5mm wider than the Zenfone 10, they are all also 1.1-1.6 mm slimmer in general. In terms of weight, the two Pro models are significantly heavier than the Zenfone 10, but the iPhone 14 is the same weight, the iPhone 13 is a miniscule two grams heavier, and the iPhone 15 is actually a gram lighter!

This is not a phenomenon limited to iPhones. The Google Pixel 8 at 150.5 x 70.8 x 8.9 mm and 187 grams is also compact and is actually smaller than the Pixel 7, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 at 147 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm is almost the same size as the Asus Zenfone 10 and at 167 grams, is actually lighter. The Galaxy S23, which is still available for sale, is smaller than the Zenfone 10 at 146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6 mm and lighter at 168 grams.

Judging by things, a few things become clear:

1. If the Asus Zenfone 10 can be considered a small phone, small flagships are not quite dead.
2. The fact that five out of the seven highest-selling flagship phones in the world in 2023 were close to the size of the Zenfone 10 proves that far from having killed the small flagship, people are continuing to invest in them.
3. Brands are not giving up on compact devices – Google actually made the Pixel 8 smaller than the Pixel 7, and Xiaomi released a relatively compact Xiaomi 14!

The mini might be dead, but compact phones ain’t going away (breathe, Marques)

What, however, cannot be denied is that the era of phones that were much smaller than the Asus Zenfone 9/10 is well and truly. Apple and Samsung’s experiments with mini versions of their flagships did not quite work, although, in Apple’s case, it is fascinating to note that the Plus variant, which replaced the mini, has not done too well either!

A key reason for the “small phones are dead” belief stems from the tendency of many folks to equate a small phone with a small display (generally less than 6 inches). While there is no doubt that the size of a display can play a big role (pun intended) in the size of a phone, thanks to modern design that shaves off bezels, it is perfectly possible for a phone to have a larger display within a small form factor – the iPhone 15 has a larger 6.1-inch display than the 5.92-inch display of the Zenfone 10, and yet it is only 0.1 mm taller than the Zenfone 10.

The days of ‘mini’ small phones may be over, perhaps because calling them ‘mini’ was a mistake, making them appear as inferior versions of the real devices, but the compact flagship is not dead yet. In fact, it is alive and kicking, and who knows, the examples of Apple, Samsung, and Google might inspire even smaller avatars.

But that is for later. For now…get out of that coffin, Marques. And do not bury the small flagship yet. The Zenfone 11 might have gone ultra, but small flagships have not lost their zen.

Not yet.