As if everything about being a woman isn’t hard enough, our severe lack of pockets make it all the more difficult. Sure we have developed the ability to pile the contents of our lives atop our fingers with the same ease as a mountain goat scaling a cliff face, but being able to fit a phone inside a pant pocket would be a treat.
Apple has just announced the iPhone 13 range and there is just one question on my hips: which of the latest iPhone models will fit in my front pocket?
Back in 2018 Pudding did the research and found that only 40% of women’s pockets could accommodate an iPhone X. Android users fared much worse with the Samsung Galaxy S9 only fitting in 20%, and the Google Pixel 3 XL fitting in just 5% of women’s jeans pockets. For reference, 100%, 95% and 85% of men’s pockets could fit these devices, respectively.
As phones continue to get bigger this problem feels like it’s getting worse. The iPhone X measured in at 6.2-inches corner-to-corner while the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro are a whopping 6.38-inches. Considering that the Galaxy S9 measured in at 6.4-inches diagonally, we can assume that only around 20% of women’s jeans front pockets can hold the latest iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro models.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max is by far and large the beefiest of the pack, measuring in at 7-inches along the diagonal line. From the data available the Pixel 3 XL is the closest comparison sitting at 6.9-inches. With this generous device endowment only fitting in 5% of front pockets, it’s likely that less than 5% of women’s jeans pockets could handle the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
None of this comes as a surprise. Phones continue to grow as if they’re Alice, stuck in Wonderland nibbling on a biscuit labelled ‘Eat Me’ and our pockets are the house, struggling to contain them. As a woman who cycles through lots of phones for work, I encounter the pocket problem more often than not. It is one of the reasons why the iPhone mini announcement last year was so exciting. It seemed like an opportunity to finally free my hands up to hold something else. But was this excitement warranted? Does the iPhone mini represent an opportunity for my hand to be free to hold up a particular finger to jean’s manufacturers? Let’s see.
This year’s iPhone 13 mini measures in at 5.7-inches corner to corner, making it by all accounts as miniature in status compared to other devices as the female jeans pocket is to men's. From the data we can already assume that more than 40% of women’s front pockets will accommodate this pint-sized phone.
While there is no directly corresponding data for the iPhone 13 mini, we are able to make some educated assumptions. According to the data, the average female front pocket measures 5.6-inches deep and 6-inches wide. The iPhone 13 mini comes in at 5.18-inches tall and 2.53-inches wide which means that whether you approach it vertically or horizontally, the iPhone 13 mini should fit in the average-sized female front pocket. That’s right! The crazy jeaniouses have done it!
Last year the iPhone 12 mini made a disappointing showing. Sales were nowhere near what Apple anticipated according to stocking numbers, but it makes me think that they simply marketed it wrong. If Tim waltzed on to that stage in a pair of women’s bootlegs and pocketed the iPhone 12 mini in one fell swoop, I would have been sold right then and there.
Of course, there are other reasons to pick the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro or the iPhone 13 Pro Max - but if you want the chance to feel the breeze between your fingers again, the iPhone 13 mini is for you.
Anula Wiwatowska
Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram
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