I simply need something that I can use comfortably with a single hand, small enough to call it compact and hide in my pocket.
I totally get the appeal of a bigger screen though. I can appreciate it for what it achieves: bigger screen means easy to read, good for watching media, playing games and easier to type on it. But for my use case, I want to AVOID making it that easy to do all of those things while still getting benefits of a smartphone, let alone an iPhone.
That's why I am really bummed that iPhone mini is going away. I don't think I'll switch to Android, because I have a lot of apple devices and the ecosystem integration is quite valuable for me.