Kuo: iPhone 12's small display, single-SIM design will hurt demand in China

Iphone 12 Mini (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects iPhone 12 mini demand to be low in China.
He also notes that pre-order demand for iPhone 12 Pro has been higher than expected.
He expects iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro shipments to be the largest.

Apple's iPhone 12 mini faces a tough task to make a dent in the Chinese market according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In a new research note, seen by iMore, Kuo says that the new, mini iPhone has two main characteristics that make it less appealing to Chinese buyers.

The analyst says that the small screen used in iPhone 12 mini will turn buyers in China off, with the market generally preferring devices that are on the larger side. While many people in the United States and Europe like a more pocketable device, that isn't the case in China.

Kuo also goes on to say that iPhone 12 mini's lack of physical dual-SIM support will impact how Chinese buyers see the device. That's a feature that many in China use regularly and extensively.

Elsewhere in the note, Kuo notes that he expects iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro shipments to be almost double the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro numbers from last year. As for this year, Kuo believes a shipment breakdown during the final quarter of 2020 will look something like this:

iPhone 12 mini: 10-15%
iPhone 12: 30-35%
iPhone 12 Pro: 30-35%
iPhone 12 Pro Max: 15-20%

Apple has iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro available for pre-order now, with devices going on sale this coming Friday, October 23. Pre-orders of iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max will be available from November 6 and devices will go on sale the following week.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.