Maybe I’m wrong here, but I definitely feel I can get another 2 years out of my 13 mini easily, especially with a battery replacement once that starts to fade. I had the se 1 for about 4 years, and 5 years of support for iPhones is pretty standard for Apple. I do hope though that the SE becomes the new mini moving forward. One every 3-4 years I think would be just fine, and would be a welcome push back to the “upgrade every year” mindset, IMO.
Fair enough. I’m not sold on the vision pro yet, personally, and imagine its use cases for most people may take some time to pan out, but I can see your point. Certainly agree that some actual guaranteed upgrade path for the mini would be nice, but I’m betting, like the iPad mini, they’ll just upgrade it periodically every now and again for the dedicated user base.
I can’t see Apple stopping the “will they, won’t they?” since it probably drives sales or doesn’t set expectations ahead of time but I’m convinced (although I could absolutely be wrong) that the 2020 SE’s launch kneecapped demand for the 12 mini since it came out months earlier with no sign of any mini phone on the horizon. Since my 8 met with a horrible fate at the time I bought a 13 mini, looks like we might be here a while.
