Once upon a time you could get a small android device with good specs.
https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_xz1_compact-8610.php
It’s still my favourite phone, even though it’s been retired and is only used as an MP3 player with AUX in the garage nowadays.
I realize that for most people the phone is now a device to consume media through and that the larger screens are helpful there, but having a smart phone that is fully usable with one hand is still something I miss. Often.
Considering that modern androids have about 85% to 90% of their size as display size then a phone with the size of the xz1 compact should get a screen size of ~5 inches instead of the old 4.6 inches.
With the SoC advancements I don’t even feel that the phone would require a flagship SoC to interest me. Put a Snapdragon 6, as much battery as you can fit and an AUX input in it and I’m game.
What would make you guys interested in a smaller phone today?
It started with requiring larger antennas, then larger batteries. LTE was super inefficient, and low frequency bands need large antennas.
Then the industry tried to push tablets and smartphones to sell more devices. Most people settled on a single device, the large smartphone that already exists and forego the tablet. In a lot of cases forego the computer as well.
Somewhere in the middle, the industry self-proclaimed that people obviously prefer large smartphones, when there were no small ones available anymore.
…and here we are.