Fantastic OnePlus 13T sales highlight the rising demand for premium compact phones

[Redaktion]

The OnePlus 13T recently went on sale in China, with the company confirming its impressive commercial success, highlighting the demand for compact, premium phones in China. The global market may be an entirely different matter, however.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Fantastic-OnePlus-13T-sales-highlight-the-rising-demand-for-premium-compact-phones.1007881.0.html

[FMassMedia]

Some may not consider a 6.3-inch device to be truly compact but the changes to a taller display ratio and slimmer bezels mean that modern 6.3-inch devices are about the same size as significantly "smaller" devices in the past.

Yes, that's not a compact device, it's just regular sized but since phablet is the new normal now we see them as compact.

Real compact is iPhone Mini.

[are you sure]

Was it really the global market that shunned smaller more compact phones? Not saying they did well there either but at least at one point in time companies were selling them in western markets. A decision like that takes years prior to make and they'd only do that following market opportunity analysis first.

I always thought it was the other way around. That it was the Asian market that was more interested in bigger phones instead because you'd almost never see compact phones there sold and they really pushed for big phones hard but maybe they were just following the most recent trends in the west?

[Max Power]

I wouldn't call any device wider than ~70mm "compact". Anything wider than that becomes very clumsy to use one-handed for most people.

It's sad, but nowadays there really is only one flagship—level device that fits the definition of "compact" (in the US anyway): the base Samsung Galaxy S25.

[Ezequiel bsb]

I'm from Brazil and I'm really interesting in buying the OnePlus 13t. I'm a Galaxy s23 owner so I'm used to small-sized  display phone. But most of the people prefer huge phones like up to 6,6 inch screen size

[BestowJk]

It's Apple they are the king of compact phones (the regular iPhone and pro iPhone).

[Ricci Rox]

I wouldn't call any device wider than ~70mm "compact". Anything wider than that becomes very clumsy to use one-handed for most people.

It's sad, but nowadays there really is only one flagship—level device that fits the definition of "compact" (in the US anyway): the base Samsung Galaxy S25.

Well, even the smallest iPhones are ~72mm wide and very usable one-handed for most people. That's the same width as the OnePlus 13T, for example, so I'm not sure why you wouldn't consider it "compact".

[AsianAnon]

Was it really the global market that shunned smaller more compact phones? Not saying they did well there either but at least at one point in time companies were selling them in western markets. A decision like that takes years prior to make and they'd only do that following market opportunity analysis first.

I always thought it was the other way around. That it was the Asian market that was more interested in bigger phones instead because you'd almost never see compact phones there sold and they really pushed for big phones hard but maybe they were just following the most recent trends in the west?

Dude maybe don't talk if you don't have all the facts? Asia is a sells more compact/budget phones than the west and it has been that way for ages. The only country I can think of where larger phones are ubiquitous is Korea.

Budget:
google.com/amp/s/www.silicon.co.uk/mobility/smartphones/smartphone-southeast-asia-526115/amp

Compact:
counterpointresearch.com/insight/post-insight-research-notes-blogs-survey-high-demand-for-compact-smartphones-in-india-but-market-has-limited-options/

Japan still sells old style flip phones that have touchscreens (Aquos Sharp Keitai). Also a lot of people in Asia prefer smaller phones because it tends to be cheaper, easier to handle for smaller hands (esp women), etc.

Companies stopped making it because it's a pain in the a** to have multiple different form factors to produce and manufacture for relatively less profit compared to their flagship. Added to that is the engineering complexity of fitting close to the same components into a smaller form factor. All of this is especially a problem for smaller companies whose sales aren't that huge to begin with (aka that aren't Apple or Samsung).

Consumers with huge spending power (/dont care about the price) also tend to just buy whatever is the best phone by specs/whatever the salesperson/media says is the most powerful phone which is never going fo be the compact phone. That's why countries that mainly buy midrange or budget phones tend to be larger markets for compact phones.

[Jack Attack]

Which models did Asus and Sony release that were compact?

Maybe it was not the fact that they were compact that was the issue with the sale.

[Ricci Rox]

Which models did Asus and Sony release that were compact?

Maybe it was not the fact that they were compact that was the issue with the sale.

The Xperia 5 V was 6.1"
The Zenfone 10 was 5.92"