Enlarge / The iPhone 13 mini. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Alongside the announcement of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, Apple quietly ended the iPhone 13 mini 's run today. That marks the end of life for arguably the best premium small phone designed for one-handed use.

It's not a surprise, of course. It became clear shortly after the launch of the first iPhone with the "mini" label—the iPhone 12 mini—that it wasn't selling that well . Market research has consistently shown that most users want bigger screens and batteries, which are incompatible with a smaller phone.

Further, the mini split the small-phone market with the much cheaper iPhone SE—even though the mini offered drastically improved features, like an OLED screen and better cameras.

Enlarge / The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini. Apple has discontinued the iPhone 12 mini and didn't introduce an iPhone 14 mini, leaving just the iPhone 13 mini. (credit: Apple)

As anticipated, Apple did not announce a small-screened iPhone 14 mini today.

Rumors have long held that Apple's 5.4-inch phone was its worst-selling model , despite its lower starting price and perennial "where are all the good small phones" griping from a small-but-vocal group of consumers and smartphone reviewers . In its place is a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus, which marries the screen size and battery life of the iPhone Pro Max phones to the lesser processor, display quality, and camera system of the standard, no-adjective iPhone 14.

Apple has also removed the iPhone 12 mini from its store. The company continues to sell the old iPhone 12 at a cheaper $599 starting price, but the mini model that you could still buy yesterday is no longer available. That means that the iPhone 13 mini is the last of Apple's small-screened iPhone X-style designs still standing.