are minors really getting less profit now? Im sure the level of difficulty did not rise more higher than the increase in BtC's price.

One more thing to mention, I think btc will continue to reduce in "actual supply", increasingly as btc becomes more expensive. Because, as btc gets more expensive and more difficult it becomes to mine, higher fees will be required. Currently it hovers $20; this means, in many trading accounts that happens to have less than $20 (this happens more than you think) and that trading account's exchange has minimum order amount, that $20 worth of btc is no longer worth trying to obtain it.