A third of an inch is definitely enough to affect one-handed reach/operation (ask anyone who's played typical electric vs classical guitars), but it is nice that the mini's part of the lineup, and I might even replace my trusty 5SE with the 12 mini in a year or so, depending on how much performance issues are starting to show for the SE and how annoying/easy audio and other interconnectivity is on the port-handicapped phones.

(Yes, I know, airpod/bluetooth connectivity works well for your use case. No, that doesn't mean it's not inconvenient and maybe even product-choice-driving for other people.)

Completely agree with you. I’m typing this on my trusty SE. Work gave me an XR back in February which I tried for a week, horrendous device.

While the lack of 3.5mm is a drawback, the phone looks only a few mm wider that the (2016)SE, which feels like the best I’m going to get befor they EOL the SE.

The wireless charging may be good enough to solve the clunkyness of having to have a lightning+3.5mm adapter.

(For the rest of us, the difference is 8.6 mm, or somewhere between the width of a pencil and an AAA battery).