They did try bringing back smaller ~5.5" phones, and hardly anybody bought them.

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-12-mini-sales-a-disast...

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/04/21/iphone-13-mini-unpopula...

I think the vocal minority is the other way around.

As the article points out, the iPhone 13 mini sold half as much as the other iPhone 13 models, while competing with the iPhone SE which was the same size at half the price. That isn’t exactly terrible.

	▲	zamadatix an hour ago \| parent [-]
		The lowest alternative, 13 Pro Max had double the sale volume (at 1.5x the cost), while the VAST majority chose the 6.1" models instead, how does that support the argument the desire for a >5.5" phone is from a vocal minority? The articles themselves directly state the sales of small models are poor, it's not the other way around no matter how you spin the charts. The relative preference for the larger unit has increased over time as well, e.g.: https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/28/iphone-16-q1-2025-best-...