iPhone 13 mini Anyone else underwhelmed by the battery?

[grobik]

I knew I’d be taking a step down in battery life but I figured I’d come close to the performance of my now 2 year old 11 pro that’s running at 82% capacity. But I’ve been averaging a loss of 70% over a 4 hour time span of very minimal use. My first 13 mini bricked Itself and after they tried 5 different computers at the apple store to restore it, they ended up swapping. The replacement at least is functioning. But not very well. Aside from the battery the camera does not hold a candle to the 11 pro. I know, extra lens. But still 2 gens later. I’ll be returning this mini and once again begrudgingly getting the larger pro device.

 

[Super Spartan]

Dunno about the 13 mini but when I bought the 12 mini 3 months back, despite the sales adviser at the Apple Store telling me that it's a better buy than the iPhone SE (I prefer a smaller phone), I used to charge it 3 to 4 times a day so I returned it within 2 days, not talking about the mediocre camera here but the battery life for me just didn't cut it so now I learned my lesson, only go for Pro.

 

[Nozuka]

But I’ve been averaging a loss of 70% over a 4 hour time span of very minimal use.

What do you consider "minimal use"?

My 12 Mini usually had more than 50% left at the end of the day with "minimal use"

Can't say anything abou the 13 Mini yet, since i just got it yesterday.

 

[RRC]

70% over 4 hours isn’t minimal use. Post up some battery screen shots so we can see what is eating up your battery, along with the graph.
Possibly something wrong with an app, a setting or the backup you used (if you used one).

Camera is better, just doesn’t have the telephoto. What is not better about it? Images should have less noise, more detail in shadows and low light areas, better colour reproduction etc…

 

[heyyitssusan]

Nope. It is way better than my 12.

 

[tis]

Dunno about the 13 mini but when I bought the 12 mini 3 months back, despite the sales adviser at the Apple Store telling me that it's a better buy than the iPhone SE (I prefer a smaller phone), I used to charge it 3 to 4 times a day so I returned it within 2 days, not talking about the mediocre camera here but the battery life for me just didn't cut it so now I learned my lesson, only go for Pro.

You didn’t learn a lesson. Now you just have a misinformed opinion. For one, the 12 mini has a smaller battery than the 13. Also, everyone knows that new iPhones consume more power in the first week of operation due to background activity and indexing. You never even gave it a fair chance.

 

[heyyitssusan]

Nope. Here is my battery health. I could probably get 7 hours+ if I used it more. At 39% at the time this screen shot was taken.

 

[Dwalls90]

The first few hours - days of the following can drain your battery:

• Restoring a new phone from an iCloud backup
• Performing a major iOS update (for example, iOS 14 to iOS 15, though sometimes "point" updates will too)

This is because the device has to index and/or download a backup from iCloud.

If after a week the battery life is still abysmal, consider exchanging it, but these posts are common year after year after the new phones come out.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Sounds like the OP purchased a VW Bug expecting a Porche.

 

[kstewart61]

If you go small you can't expect great battery life!!

 

[grobik]

What do you consider "minimal use"?

My 12 Mini usually had more than 50% left at the end of the day with "minimal use"

Can't say anything abou the 13 Mini yet, since i just got it yesterday.

Minimal was like 3 to 4 pickups to check email and swipe away notifications.

 

[grobik]

Sounds like the OP purchased a VW Bug expecting a Porche.

I had an idea. But charging 3-4 times per day is a bit much on a $700 device. My old 4s performed better. I don’t game or do anything battery intensive. Check email a few times a day and check the weather and calendar. On my phone I’ma very low key user. Only music streaming is done from my watch on runs or from HomePod directly.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I had an idea. But charging 3-4 times per day is a bit much on a $700 device. My old 4s performed better. I don’t game or do anything battery intensive. Check email a few times a day and check the weather and calendar. On my phone I’ma very low key user. Only music streaming is done from my watch on runs or from HomePod directly.

You either had a defective device, app(s) not optimized, weak cell signal, or something else causing battery drain as your usage described here shouldn't have caused you to charge 3 - 4 times a day if one or more of the possibilities wasn't a problem.

 

[grobik]

Note the steady decline with little to no use. First one I had bricked when I attempted to restore. This is the replacement. Better but still not what you’d expect. I also know to leave the phone plugged into power for the first day while the system settles.

70% over 4 hours isn’t minimal use. Post up some battery screen shots so we can see what is eating up your battery, along with the graph.
Possibly something wrong with an app, a setting or the backup you used (if you used one).

Camera is better, just doesn’t have the telephoto. What is not better about it? Images should have less noise, more detail in shadows and low light areas, better colour reproduction etc…

 

[maerz001]

Note the steady decline with little to no use. First one I had bricked when I attempted to restore. This is the replacement. Better but still not what you’d expect. I also know to leave the phone plugged into power for the first day while the system settles.

There is for sure something wrong with your device.

set up as new or exchange

 

[BigMcGuire]

I have a 13 Pro Max but your standby should look more like this :

 

[Sammy in SoCal]

I charged my iPhone 13 pro max to 89% on a Monday and by Friday it will be down to 33%. 😂 ok to be fair I don’t game or have social media apps that send me notifications every 5-15 minutes. I use it for text, phone calls, banking apps, e-trade, and coinbase investment type of apps. I also use it for CarPlay and Bluetooth calls in my car. Lastly I pay my bills through apps like Toyota financial. Whatever you guys are using your phones for to charge them 3-4 times a day an iPhone mini for you is obviously a ridiculous purchase.

 

[aohus]

Note the steady decline with little to no use. First one I had bricked when I attempted to restore. This is the replacement. Better but still not what you’d expect. I also know to leave the phone plugged into power for the first day while the system settles.

there is a homekit accessory that is draining your battery. your phone shouldnt be draining as much as it is when not in use, based on your screenshot its draining way too much. try disabling homekit in your privacy - location settings. and make sure all homekit related accessories are disabled to see if thats the culprit

 

[grobik]

I ended up returning and have a pro on the way. It’s been a liberating few days using only my watch for calls and text.

 

[Marshall73]

Note the steady decline with little to no use. First one I had bricked when I attempted to restore. This is the replacement. Better but still not what you’d expect. I also know to leave the phone plugged into power for the first day while the system settles.

How can you “brick” an iPhone?
When You get your Pro, after restoring do a ”reset all settings” to make sure you don’t brink over any corruption from your previous device. Doing this would likely have fixed your battery issues with the mini.

 

[baking soda]

I've had my 13 Mini since Friday, updated it to 15.0.1 a couple days ago, this is the first time I charge it to 100% full.... terrible screen time, plugged it now at 33% battery :/

I LOVE the Mini for size and weight and it's beautiful, please dear battery you have to improve because I don't want to be forced to return the phone

For the record: I use dark mode all the time, auto brightness without blasting it to max all the time, I had disabled most of the apps background refresh (I am now trying to keep it completely off but it's going to have some drawbacks), I don't know what else to do. Oh and I have changed Mail from push to manual fetch, each hour. What else?

Lots of tradeoffs though to try and get more screen time...

 

[RRC]

I've had my 13 Mini since Friday, updated it to 15.0.1 a couple days ago, this is the first time I charge it to 100% full.... terrible screen time, plugged it now at 33% battery :/

I LOVE the Mini for size and weight and it's beautiful, please dear battery you have to improve because I don't want to be forced to return the phone

For the record: I use dark mode all the time, auto brightness without blasting it to max all the time, I had disabled most of the apps background refresh (I am now trying to keep it completely off but it's going to have some drawbacks), I don't know what else to do. Oh and I have changed Mail from push to manual fetch, each hour. What else?

Lots of tradeoffs though to try and get more screen time...

If your cell signal isn’t the best then you’re going to get poor battery life.
Update to the latest software, 15.0.1 is not up to date, ensure all your apps are up to date as well.

Failing that, maybe return it and try another 13 mini in case yours has a defective battery as you should be able to get a lot better battery life than that out of it, I know on mine I can and I’m not even using dark mode etc.

 

[happy-raccoon]

i gotta say I am pretty overwhelmed by battery life. Only owning it since a few days, but at the end of the day, I have about 40-50% left right now.

note that I am no heavy user, I don’t game, I don’t do any social media stuff like Facebook or instagram or stuff like that except for some Reddit subs. I use a lot of Airplay/Bluetooth Audio though. Camera should (and is) definitely better than the 11 (Pro) except the missing telephoto lens.

 

[baking soda]

If your cell signal isn’t the best then you’re going to get poor battery life.
Update to the latest software, 15.0.1 is not up to date, ensure all your apps are up to date as well.

Failing that, maybe return it and try another 13 mini in case yours has a defective battery as you should be able to get a lot better battery life than that out of it, I know on mine I can and I’m not even using dark mode etc.

Yeah I have just downloaded 15.0.2, and will keep an eye on what's draining the battery, perhaps it was still downloading some iCloud photos? I have 2500+ media left to download, but not sure if that was the reason.. could have been paused the whole time, idk. I doubt it's a faulty battery, but will keep an eye on it. Still have 1+ week to return/replace the unit.

I really do want to keep the Mini.