Unpopular Opinion: They are cute, but do we REALLY want compact phones?

In the world of big and bigger smartphones (we even have an iPhone with a 6.9-inch display now), small phones keep trying to make a comeback. Apple recently added the new iPhone 16e to the lineup, which is making headlines for not only being the most affordable iPhone 16 yet but also the most compact one. We have also seen the Xiaomi 15 and the Vivo X200 Pro Mini, both of which come with a relatively small frame, as does the Pixel 9a. As we write this, we hear that OnePlus might also be getting in line with a OnePlus 13 mini.

Many are hailing this as good news. But is it really?

After basically adding inches upon inches on our smartphone screens, brands release a compact phone every now and then, which makes all of us go “awwww” in unison. Unfortunately, as soon as that veil of adoration lifts, it leaves us with a device that simply cannot keep up with the needs and asks of a new-age smartphone.

The scheming plotting big phones

We feel the conspiracy against compact phones started years ago. It is the same conspiracy that made many digital cameras, music players, gameboys/ handheld consoles go almost obsolete.

It was a simple yet very clever scheme: pack everything into a single gadget and make it sit on the top of the device hierarchy. Now, in order to make a do-it-all gadget, smartphone manufacturers need a lot of space. After all, they had to pack the big display, the big battery, multiple cameras, and a whole lot of other things into them. Yes, phones were smaller in the past, but that was because they did not have to double up as portable movie screens, still cameras, video cameras, browsing devices, mail and messaging assistants, and much more.

As the functions and features of phones expanded, so did their sizes. Before we knew it, everyone was launching phones with taller displays, bigger batteries, and more cameras than ever before.

The past decade has seen big, palm-stretching smartphones dominating the smartphone market, while compact phones have been on a steady, rapid decline. But smaller phones have never really died. From time to time, a brand brings up a token compact smartphone (often a high-end device with flagship specs). This gets the blood pumping in the dry veins of the small smartphone market and nostalgia-laden reviewers. Tech pundits usually appreciate these devices for their handy form-factor and for the contrast they bring to the world where smartphone tech is adamant about expanding physical horizons. Every two years or so, we are told that smaller phones are making a comeback. And then they do not.

But no matter how compact they get or how much applause and appreciation they gather, we do not think there is a lot of space for relatively small phones in today’s world. You see, compact phones, as handy as they feel and as cute as they are, come with compromises. Compromises that make them less suitable for facing today’s tech climate.

Fits in your hand, but not in today’s tech world (that smaller frame limits what you can do)

The most obvious compromise is display real estate. Small phones mean small displays. Even if brands stretch the displays all the way to the edge, a compact phone cannot really match the display size that a larger phone comes with. And we are not even talking about the Maxes and the Ultras or the XL’s, just regular mainstream phones – a Poco X7 has a significantly bigger display than a “compact phone” like the iPhone 16e or Pixel 9a.

The difference in display size might not seem massive on paper, but it makes a huge difference in this digital age. Be it video editing, high-end gaming, or even basic image tweaking – it all happens on smartphones now, and having a big display can make a big difference. With big displays comes better multitasking (running apps in split screen mode is more convenient), easier gaming (more viewing space and also for those on-screen controls), and a far more enjoyable content viewing experience.

A compact smartphone might be able to match the processing power, RAM, and storage of a bigger phone, but their smaller displays make them less than ideal for carrying out a lot of tasks that can be done smoothly on a regular-sized phone. Even something as basic as browsing the Web seems easier on a larger phone. One simply can do more, and more easily, on a larger display. The advent of AI has made larger displays even more important, as it is easier to view and organize content using AI on them – creating an image using AI and adding components to it, for instance, is less of a task on a 6.7-inch display as compared to a 6.1 inch one!

The small size of a phone also has a direct impact on its battery size. We use our phones pretty much for everything. From navigation to payments, to keeping in touch, to shopping, to viewing content, to social media scrolling, and the list goes on. This makes smartphones the very oxygen of our tech lives and much beyond it too, and this reliance on our devices makes it important for them to come with big batteries, which small phones often have to cut down on. While some of the “smaller” phones being launched today come with impressively large batteries – the iPhone 16e, Pixel 9a, and the Xiaomi 15, for example – these are still smaller than those seen on their larger counterparts. While smaller displays do result in lowering battery consumption, we have generally seen normal-sized phones delivering significantly better battery life than the compact crowd. Advanced battery tech lets you squeeze bigger batteries into smaller forms, but that also enables phones of normal size to get even bigger batteries.

That smaller frame limits not just the space for batteries and displays but also for other components like cameras. While the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 and Xiaomi 15 do bring some serious camera power in relatively compact frames, most smaller phones end up being two or even one camera affairs – witness the Pixel 9 and 9a as well as the iPhone 16e. There is a silver lining to this, of course – smaller-sized phones tend to come with relatively smaller price tags, too, but barring the iPhone and the Galaxy S series, this has not been enough to make them bestsellers.

Not innovative, and not enough of them…we are not crazy about their return

Some of the blame for the shortcomings (pun intended) of small phones also lies with phone manufacturers, who have largely devoted their time and effort to making big phones and have not really brought convincing enough or substantial improvements to small phone technology – something that would actually make these devices lucrative for people to invest money in. It is rare to see a brand coming out with special features designed for a smaller display, although the same brand will add special features for a larger display device. Finally, there is the matter of variety. A person looking for a compact phone these days has their options limited to a handful of devices, most of which come with stiff price tags. If someone wishes to purchase a compact phone at around Rs 20,000 – Rs 25,000 ($250-$300) today, they hardly have any options. A bestselling small phone could change all that, but we do not see that happening in the coming days.

Given all that, we are not only not too sure about small phones making a comeback but are not sure whether we want them back either. This does not mean we want gigantic devices, but we certainly cannot manage those compact ones that are much more difficult to read, edit, and view content on now. Yes, there is an audience for them, but sales figures seem to indicate that it is a small one. Maybe small phones can make a comeback but in a different form factor, like a flip phone. But other than that, we would rather stick to our ‘regular’ big display phones with big batteries and generally better cameras. Thank you very much.