> why wouldn't they just go and buy the smaller ones?

Because the smaller form factors generally have a lot of features pulled: whether it be screen pixel density, compass, camera, or battery/phone time, etc.

More and more I love the old style phones: smaller screen and heaps of battery by having a thicker body... but it seems that no-one else agrees with me on this point, so it's always thinner, thinner, thinner and bigger screens.

I'd love to buy an 'iPhone FatBoy 6' or 'Google Pixel Brick'. In a form factor that is thicker, we have more room for better camera optics, bigger batteries, other goodies, and not to mention - easier to hold!

I'm with you on this. In fact, I predict that in another 2-3 years, the dominant form factor will start to move away from what looks good on advertisements and in the showroom, to what is usable.

My personal belief is that the future form factor will be a smaller, somewhat egg shaped device that you can comfortably nestle in your palm. It will be thicker, but about the same weight as current phones, so less denser and more shock resistant. You will be able to operate it with just one hand, perhaps with physical controls on the periphery or the back surface of the device. Perhaps it will support a "squeeze" gesture.

I wish you were right, but I doubt it. For an increasing number of people the smartphone is their main or only computing device, which is why they prefer a bigger screen. In contrast to most people around here actual practical, mobile use isn't their primary concern since they don't have a second, much bigger screen for more complex tasks. I don't see this trend slowing down.

All I really want is for the camera to keep improving. The rest of the phone is fine IMHO and has been for maybe three years now. A better camera is really the only thing that makes me want to upgrade.

The iPhone 8 was good enough for Steven Soderbergh to make a feature length movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzVAdUIBBSk

Dr Seuss wrote a book using only 50 words, which went on to sell millions[1]. A great artist can produce great work without being constrained by the medium. That does not mean the medium can/should not be improved further.

That said, depending on the majority use cases, the iPhone 8 camera is plenty.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Eggs_and_Ham

With professional lighting. Vastly reduces the difference between a large sensor on a pro camera and the small ones in phones.

I'm no Soderbergh. He could probably shoot an Oscar winning feature a ten year old Flip camera.

I get what you are saying though. I kind of wish Google or Apple would license their tech to one of the companies still building large-sensor cameras (Canon, Nikon, Fuji, etc...) to see what could be done with even more data.

Lots of people (including me) say they want a thicker iPhone, but when Apple released the XR, one of the first complaints was that it's too thick.

Aren't there official iPhone battery packs?

Well, I for one hate large phones. I consider my smartphone as a tool for trivial things, using it almost exclusively with one hand, and it starts hurting after a while. Especially when reaching to the top section of the screen. Buying a smaller phone would usually mean to go with the lower end specs or older generation, which kind of bugs me. I don't play games with it or something, but it must be fast and responsive at all times and have a good camera, too. That's really hard to find these days though. I'm still using a Samsung S7 currently which kind of balances these requirements, but I'm afraid I'll have to move on to one of those giant slabs once it breaks... It's hard to explain. I'm quite possibly the last of my circle to stick with the smaller smart phones, but it seems so comfortable to me being able to easily pull it out of my pocket, type something with one hand and put it back, all while being able to do what I was doing in parallel.

This is exactly it. Large phones enable large screens and large specs. People rank those above size.

Have you looked at the Sony Xperia Compact line? They're the only small form factor premium smartphones that I know of.

I had one. Shame about the bloatware and the fact the waterproof display was impossible to use when wet and the 20mp camera was crap, worse than a 7mp one in practice.

The supposedly water resistant phone accumulate so much dust by the camera lens that it became completely unusable after 6 months. The original Z1 Compact was ace though, I kept it for years. I wish there existed an equivalent model up to today's standard, especially if it wasn't made by Sony.

There's actually nothing out there smaller than 5" apart from iPhones (the older ones), the Sony XZ2 compact and old, bottom of the barrel Androids.

Agreed, it recently became impossible to find compact phones that don't need to be removed from one's pocket before sitting when wearing jeans.

I think we need to seriously entertain the possibility that the market doesn't work. Apple made increasingly large phones last year, cancelling the smallest phone in the lineup which was the same size as their largest phone in 2012. Apple also reported disappointing sales, especially as a result of people choosing not to upgrade, and especially in China where average hand size is less than in the US and where (afaik) these accessories to attach to the back of your phone first gained popularity.

How could the market fail to account for consumer preferences in this way? I have a hypothesis: there are only a few manufacturers of top-of-the-line phones, and they want more space for more electronics (including more battery life). If those manufacturers all decide on their own that people want big phones, customers who want up-to-date smartphones will relax their preferences for small phones, and it won't get communicated. And cheaper phones will follow the lead of the more famous and more successful ones. But I think there are lots of other possibilities hypotheses here and the general class of answers of the form "the market is failing to reflect customer preferences" is likely worth investigating.

I have always found that when I have upgraded to a larger phone it has felt too big for about a week, then it becomes my new normal and the old one seem too small.

I generally choose by price point these days and not a single feature.