My colleague Javier Lacort wrote a small ode to small phones in 2020. If we delve into the deepest part of the manufacturer’s catalog, some relics seem to have remained, but by then they had long since disappeared. They seem to be completely dead by 2022.

I’ve been looking for a small Android from 2022 with an affordable and well-balanced price. By small I mean less than 6 inches (this is already an important dimension). The lack of a single offering is still striking, with the phone being released absolutely every month.

desert of small phones

In 2022, not a single Android under 6 inches has been released. Apple has been the only one to do this with the iPhone SE (2022). It has an old-fashioned design, almost outdated hardware in some parts, but literally the only phone under five inches with good specs.

The closest thing comes from Sony with the Sony Xperia 10 IV, which is “only” 6 inches and 153 centimeters high, and the Sony Xperia 10 III Lite, which is again 6 inches and almost the same size. The first is middle class worth 500 euros, and the second is not even sold in Spain.. What a view.

Google was a replica of the small mobile phones in 2020 with the Pixel 4a, which is 5.8 inches and 14 centimeters high. 6a diverges at 6.1 and grows significantly. Curiously, this 6.1-inch is considered “small” (compact and “small” in these times) in alternatives like the 14.4-centimeter tall Samsung Galaxy S22.

Manufacturers find it easier to promote hardware on larger platforms, consumers don’t seem to care anymore. A good proof of this is the failure to sell the representative data, the iPhone 13 Mini, as the iPhone is one of the best-selling mobile phones in the world. It was such a failure that, according to rumors, Apple will end this family.with a life span of only two years.