iPhone 13 mini "Downgrading" from a 15 Pro to a 13 mini– first impressions

[Capeto]

When the iPhone 12 mini was first announced, I bought it on day 1 to upgrade from my iPhone 8- I've never been a fan of the bigger phone sizes. I then upgraded to the iPhone 13 mini the next year mainly due to the battery improvements, but when the 15 Pro (and associated carrier deals) came across, I gave in and traded it in. Don't get me wrong, the 15 Pro is a mighty fine phone, but lately I have been itching back for the smaller form factor, plus I want to reduce my screen time.

I got a "renewed" 13 mini from Amazon which came with 100% battery health, although I'm assuming it's not a first-party battery. The phone unfortunately came with iOS 18 (I was hoping for an older version for better performance and battery life), so I updated to 18.6. I set it up as a new phone (but used my previously existing Apple Account), downloaded a few essential apps, and have been using it for the past couple of days.

Some of the first "re-impressions" so far:
- Obviously love the size and weight. Very, very remarkable difference compared to the 15 Pro.
- Going back to Lightning from USB-C kinda stinks. Most of my other devices at home are already on USB-C, but we still have a few Lightning connectors around for my wife's work phone, her iPad, and our kid's iPad.
- I kind of miss the Dynamic Island, but I'm sure it won't be a big deal getting used to not having it anymore.
- Don't really notice the "downgrade" to a 60hz screen
- While the telephoto lens will be missed, I'm also using this as an opportunity to use my camera gear more, so I'm not bothered by its absence
- The elephant in the room: Battery life. I don't know if it's still indexing, or if it's the likely third-party battery, or if the battery life is just not as good on iOS 18 as when I last had mine with iOS 15... but when I'm using it, it feels like battery decreases by about a percentage point per minute. I'm trying things to increase it, such as staying on LTE (vs. 5G) and turning off background app refresh. Standby time is pretty good. Pretty sure I won't be upgrading to iOS 26 for a while.

 

[vvvvvv]

To your last point- no, that’s just how bad the battery is, sadly. It finally drove me away in the past few months. Having to worry about how many % points it dropped just by opening a banking app or firing off an email is just not worth it anymore.

 

[mrvnmg]

When the iPhone 12 mini was first announced, I bought it on day 1 to upgrade from my iPhone 8- I've never been a fan of the bigger phone sizes. I then upgraded to the iPhone 13 mini the next year mainly due to the battery improvements, but when the 15 Pro (and associated carrier deals) came across, I gave in and traded it in. Don't get me wrong, the 15 Pro is a mighty fine phone, but lately I have been itching back for the smaller form factor, plus I want to reduce my screen time.

I got a "renewed" 13 mini from Amazon which came with 100% battery health, although I'm assuming it's not a first-party battery. The phone unfortunately came with iOS 18 (I was hoping for an older version for better performance and battery life), so I updated to 18.6. I set it up as a new phone (but used my previously existing Apple Account), downloaded a few essential apps, and have been using it for the past couple of days.

Some of the first "re-impressions" so far:
- Obviously love the size and weight. Very, very remarkable difference compared to the 15 Pro.
- Going back to Lightning from USB-C kinda stinks. Most of my other devices at home are already on USB-C, but we still have a few Lightning connectors around for my wife's work phone, her iPad, and our kid's iPad.
- I kind of miss the Dynamic Island, but I'm sure it won't be a big deal getting used to not having it anymore.
- Don't really notice the "downgrade" to a 60hz screen
- While the telephoto lens will be missed, I'm also using this as an opportunity to use my camera gear more, so I'm not bothered by its absence
- The elephant in the room: Battery life. I don't know if it's still indexing, or if it's the likely third-party battery, or if the battery life is just not as good on iOS 18 as when I last had mine with iOS 15... but when I'm using it, it feels like battery decreases by about a percentage point per minute. I'm trying things to increase it, such as staying on LTE (vs. 5G) and turning off background app refresh. Standby time is pretty good. Pretty sure I won't be upgrading to iOS 26 for a while.

Just found an iPhone 13 mini on amazon as well. Just waiting for it to arrive. Really excited to go back to a smaller iPhone. I'll be switching from my 16 Pro to the 13 mini. I've had the 12 mini when it first came out but traded that in for the 13 Pro so I could get better cameras. I may keep the 16 Pro for the camera and video features. So far the 16 Pro has been my favorite non mini iPhone in a while. The other day I was fumbling around with my 16 Pro and was like this thing is so big and heavy to try use with one hand and it made me miss my old 12 mini. I really wish Apple would bring back the mini iPhone. I'd take a 17e mini or an 18 air mini. My dream tho is a Pro mini. Besides battery life the mini was the perfect form factor for a truly pocketable iPhone.

 

[FeliApple]

Yeah, I use both USB-C and Lightning and it doesn’t really bother me. I like to charge my iPhones with the 5w USB-A Power Adapter and I have enough of those around to charge all of my iPhones at the same time if I so choose. If you have the cables, I’d expect that not to be nuisance at all, too.

When it comes to battery life, I reckon you’re a heavy user. Whilst it’s likely that iOS 18 has some impact vs iOS 15, the iPhone 13 Mini, as far as I recall (although I haven’t tried it), had the battery life of the Xs on iOS 12, so about 9 hours of light SOT. That doesn’t sound too bad, but you need maximum efficiency and light use to get to 9 hours.

For reference, my Xʀ on iOS 12 gives me 16 hours with the same usage, and my 16 Plus on iOS 18 gives me 27. As for iPads, my 11th-gen iPad on iPadOS 18 gives me 26 hours. This makes the Mini look inadequate. Add to that a more moderately heavy usage pattern, and you may be looking at about 5-6 hours on iOS 18… not that great. That’s just a byproduct of size, not much you can do. But that’s in theory. 1 percentage point per minute indicates there’s an issue that’s probably solvable. How heavy are your settings?

 

[Trader05]

Id ask other 13 Mini users if they have similar battery life. I saw on youtube a bunch of techs checking “refurbished” phones and they swap out the battery with the old battery’s board and connector with an after market battery.

 

[phillyman]

So here is a 13 mini user (and there are MANY on this forum)... Bought 13 mini day it came out and still on original battery but will go to apple store and have it replaced. ....

Sooooo thank you for post... I appreciate posters that write accounts with pros and cons and try to stay as fair as possible. The battery life plain and simple is bad... I don't think mine is quite that bad. I think I usually lose 10 -20 an hour but it can be more... If I only use it for texting and a podcast it lasts me most of the day (maybe 4-6pm) range. But some days when I'm traveling I start top off at 11 am - noon. At 20% like all old batteries it starts to die VERY quickly.

I know battery life is a true concern for many. I have chargers more or less wherever I tend to be for longer periods of time and just top off.. I think 20 - 30 minutes at most brings it back to a solid amount (sorry drawing a blank on how much).

What REALLY helps my charge is always having it in battery save mode.

The tradeoff is worth it to me, but the screens on newer phones are VERY nice and SHINY
I'll stick it out another couple years but please don't post asking for APple to bring back a small iPhone. The forum will just blow up again and 100 posts later we are still where we were a couple years back .

Enjoy the 13 mini and good luck. Last thought on battery. It might be worth paying the 80 (?) bucks (if in the states) to have apple put in an original battery?

Good luck,
Philly

 

[max2]

Figured out a way to make basically any smartphone last 2 days minimum even if you use it continuously with demanding things (example mobile gaming, no I do not never really could too small of a screen sadly)

Some a week. Does not involve power save mode either. No not extra weight added to it and not always plugged in to a outlet.

 

[vvvvvv]

Figured out a way to make basically any smartphone last 2 days minimum even if you use it continuously with demanding things (example mobile gaming, no I do not never really could too small of a screen sadly)

Some a week. Does not involve power save mode either. No not extra weight added to it and not always plugged in to an outlet.

…go on

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Are you me? I made the same move last week and am having zero regrets besides missing USB-C. I did find this case for preorder that converts lighting to USB-C but I don't have the highest hopes for it!

iPh0n3 - USB-C Protection Case

🔥 Batch 1, 2 AND 3 already sold out... Sorry 😢 😢 Please sign up with your email to be alerted when your model gets back in stock. The models with the most sign ups get higher priority. ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO: here Just plug your phone in this protection case and get USB-C in just a few seconds. No...

obsoless.com

 

[Ralfi]

…go on

Starting to think it was a question 😂

If you’re not a heavy user, then I can understand this downgrade. Otherwise, I can’t make sense of all the sacrifices you’ve just made, all for a smaller screen/weight.

 

[1rottenapple]

I still have my 13 mini for the gym. I miss it sometimes. Only if it has satellite support i think I’d stay with it. But yah battery stinks. If you turn on 5g forget it battery becomes horrible. I appreciate the battery on the 16 because I can hike for 5 hours and it’ll only drop 30%. One less thing to carry.

 

[Gregintosh]

I recently "downgraded" from the 15 Pro to the 16e.

100% agree with missing the Dynamic Island. Some thought it was gimmick but some apps really made good use of it.

I miss it most when I am booking a car on a ride sharing app. It used to show the license plates and ETA in the Dynamic Island. This let me scroll around on my phone while waiting. Now I have to keep checking the app to see where it's at or to remind myself of the plate number to look for.

But for battery life I feel the opposite. Obviously the mini phones had worse battery life, if not the worst of any modern iPhones. But for the 16e, the battery life is way better and very noticeable.

I also don't notice the drop the 60hz as much after a few days of getting used to. Performance wise I think the 16e has more power anyway, since it has a newer chip, so no losses there (even though I just do basic stuff like social media, messengers, etc)

As for look and feel, I do like the lighter weight, another very noticeable part. Also since the 16e I about 1/3 the price I paid for my 15 Pro (1TB model), I don't feel stressed about using it with no case and no screen protector.

I bought the AppleCare+ for it on a monthly basis just in case, but even if I had to replace the whole thing out of pocket it wouldn't be a big deal cost wise for me.

With the more expensive phones, it feels like a case and screen protector are a must, which deprives the user of enjoying the natural feel and weight of the phone, using it as it was designed to be used -- which honestly is a much more pleasurable experience.

I know that the 16e is bigger than the Mini, but for those who enjoyed having a light phone (if weight was the reason they liked the mini and not just the size), didn't mind the notch, and didn't mind the 60hz screen the 16e might be a great choice.

Especially those who loved the mini but hated the short battery life, they would really love the 16e.

 

[MattSee]

13mini on ios 18.6 user with 5G enabled, with new original battery from Apple. Everything running smooth, no problem making it to the end of the day. But i´m a light user, almost no SM apps.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

If you turn off background app refresh for apps that don't need it (aka most) and disable 5g completely, the battery life isn't too bad. Try to avoid cellular completely, and it's pretty good.

I use an Anker MagGo 321 to get through days when I'm away from a charger from literally sunrise til bedtime.

 

[Capeto]

Thank you all for your insights and experiences, I'll reply to some comments in a bit.

I briefly mentioned it in the opening post, but one of the main reasons I wanted to switch phones was to reduce my overall screentime. More specifically, I want to reduce the amount of time on social media and online shopping. I'm taking the approach of "if it's something I can do on a computer, I'll do it on a computer rather than my phone", as being on a computer is, to me, a lot more intentional than being on my phone. I only left these broad categories of apps on my phone:

- Banking and finances (not shopping)
- Instant messaging (Signal, Whatsapp)
- Education (Duolingo, Wikipedia, podcasts)
- Music (streaming, Plex server)
- Home (IoT)
- Miscellaneous utilities (email, weather, note-taking, maps, to-do, etc.)

And as time goes on, I'll probably be "offloading" some of these apps onto the computer. I find the idea of having a minimal "dumb smart phone" very appealing but I don't know if I'm ready to go to that extreme quite yet. Just wanted to give you all a bit of perspective on where I'm coming from with this phone switch.

-----

After a few more days of use, the battery life seems manageable, but I've mostly been at work or at home so I'm always near a charger; this weekend will be the first real trial. I lucklily still have my original MagSafe battery pack so I'll be bringing it with me in case it's needed. A couple other things I've noticed over the past couple of days:

- Screen brightness out in the sun is pretty bad. But hey, I'm trying to use my phone less when out and about
- The phone does tend to get pretty warm pretty quick. I'm using 5W chargers to avoid overheating the phone
- RAM. Another big one along with battery life. I can't remember apps refreshing this much back when I first had this phone, but maybe I just got spoiled by the 15 Pro. Apps and websites sure love to refresh!
- I suppose an upside of having such a small battery is that the phone charges pretty quickly
- I miss the option to automatically stop charging once battery reaches 80%, but that might just be my anxiety about long-term battery health kicking in and ultimately probably not a luxury I can afford with the mini

As far as battery-related settings go, I have the following configuration:

- Background app refresh on most apps turned off. Left it on for instant messaging, maps, and a few other choice ones where I think it would make sense for the apps to refresh in the background
- 5G disabled, going entirely off LTE
- Location services limited to only when using the app requesting the location, and being a lot stricter about which apps get to access my location
- 30 seconds to sleep the display, no raise to wake, all that good stuff
- Haven't tried permanently keeping it in Low Power Mode but that might be the move, especially when away from chargers

-----

When it comes to battery life, I reckon you’re a heavy user. Whilst it’s likely that iOS 18 has some impact vs iOS 15, the iPhone 13 Mini, as far as I recall (although I haven’t tried it), had the battery life of the Xs on iOS 12, so about 9 hours of light SOT. That doesn’t sound too bad, but you need maximum efficiency and light use to get to 9 hours.

Yeah, I'm not a light user but I'm trying to get there, and with battery life being such a limiting factor this might be the what I need to give me that push.

Enjoy the 13 mini and good luck. Last thought on battery. It might be worth paying the 80 (?) bucks (if in the states) to have apple put in an original battery?

My understanding is that Apple will only do battery replacements if battery health is under 80%, and my refurbished phone has 100% battery health. If I am misunderstanding Apple's policy and thinking they will only replace the battery *under AppleCare* if under 80% health, and I can just walk in (or make an appointment) and cough up $80 for a brand new Apple battery, I'll very likely go that route.

Are you me? I made the same move last week and am having zero regrets besides missing USB-C. I did find this case for preorder that converts lighting to USB-C but I don't have the highest hopes for it!

iPh0n3 - USB-C Protection Case

🔥 Batch 1, 2 AND 3 already sold out... Sorry 😢 😢 Please sign up with your email to be alerted when your model gets back in stock. The models with the most sign ups get higher priority. ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO: here Just plug your phone in this protection case and get USB-C in just a few seconds. No...

obsoless.com

Honestly that sounds like a pretty appealing case. I wonder how much bulk it adds, though. I'll keep an eye out on it for when it goes back in stock and will look for some review videos in the meantime. Thanks for sharing!

I recently "downgraded" from the 15 Pro to the 16e.

...

Funnily enough, my work has a BYOD policy so I got a 16e for it, and I'm leaving this company at the end of the month so I'm gonna have that phone not doing anything... and I agree with your points. I'll stick out with the mini for the rest of the month but if battery anxiety is just too much for me to deal with I might make the jump to making the 16e my daily driver. My only hesitation is that the 16e (and, I guess, any "standard" sized iPhone nowadays) really does seem noticeably bulkier than the mini. But ultimately I want fewer things to worry about, not more.

Figured out a way to make basically any smartphone last 2 days minimum even if you use it continuously with demanding things (example mobile gaming, no I do not never really could too small of a screen sadly)

Some a week. Does not involve power save mode either. No not extra weight added to it and not always plugged in to a outlet.

My uncle works at Nintendo and he says the Switch 3 will play every Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation game ever made.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Honestly that sounds like a pretty appealing case. I wonder how much bulk it adds, though. I'll keep an eye out on it for when it goes back in stock and will look for some review videos in the meantime. Thanks for sharing!

I'll let you know how it is when mine shows up!

 

[turbineseaplane]

Are you me? I made the same move last week and am having zero regrets besides missing USB-C. I did find this case for preorder that converts lighting to USB-C but I don't have the highest hopes for it!

iPh0n3 - USB-C Protection Case

🔥 Batch 1, 2 AND 3 already sold out... Sorry 😢 😢 Please sign up with your email to be alerted when your model gets back in stock. The models with the most sign ups get higher priority. ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO: here Just plug your phone in this protection case and get USB-C in just a few seconds. No...

obsoless.com

Mine is waiting in my parcel locker but I'm away from home until next week.
Excited to see what it's like!

 

[turbineseaplane]

13mini on ios 18.6 user with 5G enabled, with new original battery from Apple. Everything running smooth, no problem making it to the end of the day. But i´m a light user, almost no SM apps.

How low did you go on battery health before doing a replacement?

I'm down to low 80% range and trying to decide when to do it.

 

[generdude]

When the iPhone 12 mini was first announced, I bought it on day 1 to upgrade from my iPhone 8- I've never been a fan of the bigger phone sizes. I then upgraded to the iPhone 13 mini the next year mainly due to the battery improvements, but when the 15 Pro (and associated carrier deals) came across, I gave in and traded it in. Don't get me wrong, the 15 Pro is a mighty fine phone, but lately I have been itching back for the smaller form factor, plus I want to reduce my screen time.

I got a "renewed" 13 mini from Amazon which came with 100% battery health, although I'm assuming it's not a first-party battery. The phone unfortunately came with iOS 18 (I was hoping for an older version for better performance and battery life), so I updated to 18.6. I set it up as a new phone (but used my previously existing Apple Account), downloaded a few essential apps, and have been using it for the past couple of days.

Some of the first "re-impressions" so far:
- Obviously love the size and weight. Very, very remarkable difference compared to the 15 Pro.
- Going back to Lightning from USB-C kinda stinks. Most of my other devices at home are already on USB-C, but we still have a few Lightning connectors around for my wife's work phone, her iPad, and our kid's iPad.
- I kind of miss the Dynamic Island, but I'm sure it won't be a big deal getting used to not having it anymore.
- Don't really notice the "downgrade" to a 60hz screen
- While the telephoto lens will be missed, I'm also using this as an opportunity to use my camera gear more, so I'm not bothered by its absence
- The elephant in the room: Battery life. I don't know if it's still indexing, or if it's the likely third-party battery, or if the battery life is just not as good on iOS 18 as when I last had mine with iOS 15... but when I'm using it, it feels like battery decreases by about a percentage point per minute. I'm trying things to increase it, such as staying on LTE (vs. 5G) and turning off background app refresh. Standby time is pretty good. Pretty sure I won't be upgrading to iOS 26 for a while.

I bought my iPhone 13 mini when it came out in 2021. My battery is at 94%. I keep it on Low Battery Mode most of the time. I have a Shortcut that alerts me when it gets to 80% charged and then disconnect it from a slow - not fast - charger.

 

[Timpetus]

I considered doing the same thing as I still have my 13 mini, but I remember the battery life being a major issue back then. I'm still having to charge at times throughout the day on my 15 Pro (with 80% limit enabled) and it would be even worse going back to such a small battery that's aged more since then.

 

[1rottenapple]

13mini on ios 18.6 user with 5G enabled, with new original battery from Apple. Everything running smooth, no problem making it to the end of the day. But i´m a light user, almost no SM apps.

Interesting. Maybe a battery swap would be good. There's rumors of satellite on the watch ultra 3, it's tempting to go back to the mini. I am on this digital reduction of my use and my 16 literally is for messaging, ordering coffee, maps, email. No more safari and youtube; no online shopping. The 13 mini would be great for my use now. I just don't like the idea of buying more technology to use less technology, do you know what I mean?

 

[MattSee]

How low did you go on battery health before doing a replacement?

I'm down to low 80% range and trying to decide when to do it.

It was around 81%, the difference when switched to the new original battery was huge. Felt like a new phone.

 

[splitpea]

The OS definitely has an impact on battery life. Mine still says 100% battery health. But I now get one full day out of a charge. When it was new, I often made it nearly three days between charges. (Yes, I use a lot of tricks to keep battery usage low.)

 

[aespana]

Yeap, battery life is terrible in this little beautiful phone.

I have to charge it two times in the same day and also the performance is not that good with iOS 18 (I really hate iOS 18) but well, its still a good phone with good camera and of course, the size. I'm not that anti-lighting but when you have a lot of USB-C cables and then you must carry an additional lightning cable..

I'm thinking about buying a lightning 3.5 adapter and then a 3.5 EarPods.. Am I a crazy dude? (at least I can use the 3.5 EarPods in the Mac)

 

[1rottenapple]

Yeap, battery life is terrible in this little beautiful phone.

I have to charge it two times in the same day and also the performance is not that good with iOS 18 (I really hate iOS 18) but well, its still a good phone with good camera and of course, the size. I'm not that anti-lighting but when you have a lot of USB-C cables and then you must carry an additional lightning cable..

I'm thinking about buying a lightning 3.5 adapter and then a 3.5 EarPods.. Am I a crazy dude? (at least I can use the 3.5 EarPods in the Mac)

EarPods are great. The 3.5 ones are much more versatile than those other lightning or usbc connectors. I know I still use my 3.5 with the phones, my work laptop for calls, and my iPod click wheel.i was thinking buying another one to keep at work.