have you held a regular 15? to me it feels pretty small in the hand, way smaller than an XR/11, and even *feels* smaller than 12/13/14 despite being about the same size. definitely doesn’t feel like a phabletMy ideal combination was be an iPhone 5 with an iPad mini back in the day.
With only phablets available and the current iPad mini having thicker bezels than the original iPad mini, I would rather have a 7.5-inch iPhone to avoid having two devices.
but yeah, my 15 plus has pretty much replaced my iPad mini, it feels unnecessary at this point. i have a larger galaxy tab for writing and drawing, but the iPhone is fine for reading or movies on a flight, which was mostly what i used the mini for