@HVizier have you seen this. It touches on what you want to know 
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It’s ok. I’m not offended by any means. What you said is true for some yoyo companies, I agree. That’s why I didn’t state it as an absolute, but only as a partial explanation. Another example of your point is that the YYJ Vigilante, Mini Motrixx and the Mini Motu were smaller models, but were just as expensive as the DM2, New Breed, and Speeder and all were metal rimmed hybrids.
However, a few years ago, there were a number of models that were made smaller to make them available to those on a restrictictive budget. The G-funk was $50, while its larger counterpart, the Super G was around $90+. The Luxe Ltd was $90, but the larger bimetal version, the Karma, was about $115.
I can’t speak for companies like CLYW or One Drop, who were not known for making budget throws. However, for companies like Yoyofactory, making a yoyo smaller was an option for making it cheaper. As someone who was always on a budget, I was rather keenly aware of the cost of metal yoyos. The undersized models were typically the only ones that came close to my price range.
Between 2003-2008 players took yoyo design down a weird detour. By 2009 it was back on track. Some styles will always look better on smaller yoyos.
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Wait can you elaborate on that?
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Hitman wasn’t the best yoyojam (argue with me comeon) but the best player used it that year (2003) and won everything. JD also crushed it marketing hitman in videos and with his website. 888 wasn’t the best yoyo we were making for competitiors in 2007 but the best chose to use it and compete. By 2008 even almost every competitor saw the benefits of using ‘full’ sized and made the switch. The market still bought undersized but the trendsetters were already over it. If a player who was good enough and influential enough came out now and made undersize look good I think you could see a comback for smaller yoyos.
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And what are the trendsetters into these days, I wonder? 
A great undersized yoyo I picked up was rain city skills loonie, great gap and bearing, it’s made of brass, so the weight is a little bit different, it’s in between the size of the mighty flea and the heist
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When was the last time any yoyo company even released a yoyo with a diameter between 45-50mm? From what I can tell, most yoyo companies are releasing yoyos with a diameter of either 52+mm or 40mm and under.
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Luftverk has a couple small-diameter experiments from this year and last - Alpina XP47 and Silvia XP50. They’re both expensive and experimental.
C3 also did an update of their Token last year, at 47.3mm. That one’s cheap and easily available.
Ultimately I find that narrow width and rounded-off rims are more important for pocketability than a small diameter. I also think that there are probably more great designs to be found in the 48-52mm range.
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I agree, not as concerned with diameter for fitting in the pocket, width is where its at.
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Which ones would some of those be? I’m thinking less about being pocketable and more about feel. Smallest yoyo I have is the Sk8er which is 53mm.
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I like to carry around the Recess Snack (51x39mm) or Alleycat 650b (57x31mm).
The snack is a bit smaller than the sk8r all around, and it’s a great player.
I’ve heard good things about the Raptor, too:
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Early ‘10s and late ‘00s 49-52 was a pretty popular range. When the OD 54 was released 54 was actually considered full sized with 51-54 range being mid-sized. Nowadays midsized is more like 54-56.
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