I honestly dont think a mini without some sort of pro features would work the Mini's size was great but it had way too many shortcomings compared to base model iPhones and especially the pros.Dont care about the pro features, just bring back a Mini size option.
The dilemma here is the battery won’t be big enough to accommodate those Pro features, so the whole experience is brought undone by the constant need to charge the thing.
Could be the reason why Apple haven’t bothered.
I mean the phone could be a bit thicker to compensate for a larger battery without affecting the screen size.