To be fair, different people wanted different things. Some care about cheaper way inside the walled garden, some clanged into their SE for the small size, others keep their old iPhone for the headphone jack, and so on.
To me, this has always been the issue with that ecosystem. If the one or two devices Apple makes fits your preferences, then that's awesome. Otherwise, you're shit outta luck. With Android, there's phones for everyone. Want a hardware keyboard? Check out Blackberry or F(x)tec. Want audio jack with a nice DAC, check out LG. Want stylus support? Check out Samsung Note or Moto Stylus. Gaming phone? Check out Razer or ROG. And the list goes on. There's a phone for everyone.
If you care about width and not height, keep an eye out for new Xperia models. I think I remember some speculation that one of them (Xperia PRO?) might be unusually narrow.
The review states Android 8.1. The current site says Android 8.1[1] The updates section of the FAQ only talks about Google Play updates.[2] That’s not good enough for me.
I don't get it, do people expect magic? How do people think you're gonna fit all the features from a 6" phone into a device literally half the volume. Phones are already packed to the brim. When you make a smaller phone, other than the display, everything else takes the same size and uses the same amount of power.
This is the main reason phones have actually getting bigger. Not because people want huge phones, but because people want wireless charging, NFC, 3 cameras, high refresh rate, etc, and a much bigger battery to support all of those extra features.
It's great that you have those need, but that's too niche even for Android. No one is going to manufacture a small phone without camera or bluetooth or good battery, with Qi and NFC, just for the 5 people out there with your specific needs. Realistically, a small phone can only have 1-2 or the big features most premium phones have, and you might seem some, but you'll never see one that focuses on those two you need unfortunately.
I’d like to shout this from the rooftops. All I want is an iPhone I can comfortably use with one hand whether it’s $400 or $1400