iPhone 12 Mini Reviews: The Best Small Smartphone but Battery Life 'Leaves Much to Be Desired'

[Hankkk]

This was literally my exact reason for wanting a small phone again. I’ve actually stated this in other threads. Glad someone else has the same idea.

Same here.

 

[kovalchuk71]

Same here.

Moving from the XS MAX to the iPhone X has seriously done wonders with reducing my screen time. Hopefully the 12 mini will be even better.

Smart phone usage is such a terrible, terrible habit. I see Gen Z kids “working” retail with their heads buried in their phones. So frustrating.

 

[hunapu]

From the Tech Radar review:

View attachment 1574871

But at what time is his end of the day? 6pm? 11pm?

 

[hunapu]

Small phones dont have to have poor battery life. Sony nailed battery life on their compact phones years ago. My old z3 compact had one of the best battery lives on the market, even more than its big brother.

I think their trick was to simply let the smaller screen have a lower resolution. It still looked fantastic due to the smaller size, but was also far more efficient.

That's because a Sony z3 compact could do less than a Nokia 3310

 

[BrooksA]

Awesome job Apple. I've been waiting for a phone like this for years and they made one. We both use original SEs and are planning to get one each in the run up to Christmas.

 

[femike]

Being smaller, the iPhone 12 mini could of been made slightly thicker, in fact I expected it to be, for this very reason.
(However, according to the specs it has the the same longevity as my 6s.)

 

[PaulKemp]

What job does today's population have that affords them the ability to put an hour into an Apple Arcade game?

Many people commute and uses this time for exactly this.

 

[recoil80]

All iPhones have insufficient battery capacity. There are there 2 basic solutions for it. The customer can buy a battery case to extend operation or Apple can increase battery capacity in their designs. Apple might also modify their OS to allow a user to selectively throttle processor performance in order to reduce the phone’s demand for power.

There is power saving mode and you can easily make to the end of the day switching it on, but it is not ideal to have a great phone and shut off most of the things to save battery.
They could have made the Mini slightly thicker, without the protruding camera just like iPhone 5s and put a bigger battery in it. It would have been a great phone, nice to hold and use in one hand and with a decent battery life.

 

[aknabi]

Last year you could buy an iPhone 11 with a bigger screen and a better battery and a charger and headphones for $30 less than the iPhone 12 mini. That's something not even the biggest fanboy can ignore or deny.

Never underestimate the ability of a fanboy to deny any reality (a true believer still thinks the original butterfly keyboard was perfect, wonderful and the peak of the typing experience)

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Apple has increase size and thickness of their phones basically every year since the iPhone 6. I don’t know why there is still this narrative of them prioritizing thinness over everything.

The iPhone 12 is thinner than the last 3 years of iPhones.

 

[aknabi]

I HATE TINY SCREENS THAT ARE AS SMALL AS ANCIENT IPHONES. APPLE SHOULD JUST KEEP INCREASING SCREEN SIZES, NOT GOING THE OTHER WAY ROUND

Right! They should drop the current iPhone product line all together and put 5G into iPads and have those become the new iPhone line! (oops should have had caps lock on)

As an aside the original comment is the kind of thinking I usually associate with an Android fanboy.

 

[aknabi]

Apple has increase size and thickness of their phones basically every year since the iPhone 6. I don’t know why there is still this narrative of them prioritizing thinness over everything.

If you don't believe the Apple mission being thinspriation to thinnovate then you are not a true believer and your lack of faith is disturbing.

 

[ascender]

I've sold my 11 Pro so I've been using the family spare phone which is a 6S. Once I got used to the smaller keyboard again, its been an absolute joy to use! Have to remind myself that its even in my pocket, so can't wait for the Mini.

I'm still none the wiser as to what people want an iPhone Mini Pro to be though. What "Pro" features is this phone missing which could be put in to such a small phone?

One of the great things about this year's lineup is the feature parity across them all. Its no longer the case that people buying the smaller/cheaper phones are having to accept major trade-offs compared to those buying the Pro.

 

[bbates123]

Being smaller, the iPhone 12 mini could of been made slightly thicker, in fact I expected it to be, for this very reason.
(However, according to the specs it has the the same longevity as my 6s.)

According to the specs I'm looking at it has 4hrs more battery life than the 6S and 1hr more than the 6S Plus. It has better battery life than any iPhone prior to the XR (and even there it's close).

iPhone - Compare Models

Compare features and technical specifications for iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone SE, and many more.

www.apple.com

 

[bbates123]

I've sold my 11 Pro so I've been using the family spare phone which is a 6S. Once I got used to the smaller keyboard again, its been an absolute joy to use! Have to remind myself that its even in my pocket, so can't wait for the Mini.

I'm still none the wiser as to what people want an iPhone Mini Pro to be though. What "Pro" features is this phone missing which could be put in to such a small phone?

One of the great things about this year's lineup is the feature parity across them all. Its no longer the case that people buying the smaller/cheaper phones are having to accept major trade-offs compared to those buying the Pro.

I'm in the same boat as you...sold my XS and I've been using an SE gen 1 which has also been a joy to use, aside from the truly bad battery life. I think the only "Pro" feature I'd want to see on the next gen Mini is a telephoto lens.

 

[Manna711]

It's a small phone aimed at light users, I don't think battery life will be much of an issue for Target Audience. Personally I am so happy with the iPhone 11 Pro Max. its a game changer where I can use it as much as I want and never worry about running out. I don't want to go back to the old days of having to be careful and curtail my use.

Can you turn off 5G altogether? So it doesn't even try to get a 5G signal and sticks with 4G? That would help battery life a lot.

There is a setting from my understanding. Here is a screenshot from a review:

 

[Phone Junky]

I HATE TINY SCREENS THAT ARE AS SMALL AS ANCIENT IPHONES. APPLE SHOULD JUST KEEP INCREASING SCREEN SIZES, NOT GOING THE OTHER WAY ROUND

Open your eyes and turn off you caps lock. Apple did increase the screen size. Pro Max is .2" bigger this year. I guess you already knew that but just wanted to complain about something you have no interest in.

 

[bluecoast]

To my knowledge, the mini is not being marketed to heavy or pro type users. It is being marketed to those seeking a small form factor and a lot of the same spec benefits as the other phones. It is for light phone users who don’t spend all day on the phone playing games and watching bubble gum iPhone review videos.

Exactly this.

If you are the kind of person who spends lots of time on your iPhone watching video, playing games, taking lots of photos/video & even on content creation/editing - it seems like you should not buy the mini.

However (like in your post I’m quoting) if you are a ‘light user’ ie use your iPhone as a tool for living and want to put it in your jeans pocket, suit pocket, handbag etc and forgot it’s there & you want a ‘modern’ iPhone - it feels like this is the phone for you.

Finally, a little side bar: I’m increasingly getting disenchanted with many tech reviews/reviewers, as often they evaluate products in terms of their own job functions:

Ie shooting video and photos and then reviewing & editing these to strict deadlines - all of which are of course battery and processor intensive.

This is not what most people are doing everyday though...

 

[bbates123]

There is a setting from my understanding. Here is a screenshot from a review: View attachment 1657936

My understanding that if it's on Auto (default) it won't use 5G unless you're trying to pull something very data intensive, and that's of course only when you're out and about and not on wifi. I would think for most users this doesn't need to be changed.

 

[3NV7]

"What you actually miss out on is that sense of immersion you can get from a bigger screen when you’re playing a game or watching a movie. "

If anyone is using their phone (of any size) to get a "sense of immersion", you're doing it wrong.

 

[airshu]

That's because a Sony z3 compact could do less than a Nokia 3310

What an odd thing to say about a flagship spec phone from the same year as the iphone 6. It did plenty actually. Maybe you are thinking of something else from a different era?
It's by far the best phone I've ever had. If I hadn't broken the screen after a few years, and Sony hadn't dropped the ball on their later compacts, I might never have touched an iphone.

Instead I bought a 1st gen SE which was already the only compact phone on the market, and it felt like a downgrade. Definitely didn't do as much as the Sony, and the screen and battery were much worse.
I did come to like it though, and it held up quite nicely. Only just replaced it a month ago, for a big phone with a good battery because it was clear the 12 mini would fall down here, and I still feel spoiled for battery life from that old z3c.

 

[Maconplasma]

Huh? People do battery life comparisons between phone models all the time. And as for "worth their time" -- they do it for clicks and views and money, yeah? Pretty sure reviewers don't just do this stuff out of the goodness of their hearts.

You're absolutely right. I know this first hand. But instead of a rebuttal to my post then why do you think there have been very few battery comparisons? Keep in mind I was addressing another member who stated there hasn't been hardly any battery comparisons. Battery is the #1 concern for many people. Maybe it's just not a priority for YouTubers and reviewers right now.

 

[MacBH928]

The iPhone 12 mini is 15mm shorter and 18mm slimmer than the old Note. It is also smaller than the iPhone 7. You seem to be taking screen dimension as the defining criterion. The iPhone 12 mini is mostly screen, the older phones had much smaller screens relative to their overall dimensions. With the iPhone 12 mini they managed to put a yesteryear's-phablet-size screen into a small phone. That does not mean the mini isn't mini - instead it shows how much things have progressed, and how inefficient those older phones were.

the reason they used to call them phablets is because the phone screen is so large its near tablet size. The iphone 12 screen is larger. They were not phablets because the device is large and the screen is small.

 

[Strangedream]

I've pre-ordered the 12 mini and will try the battery for myself. I can get thru a whole day with an iPhone X @ 86% battery health, so a 12 mini in the high 90's% should be fine. If it ain't I'll just return it and stick to my trusty X for one more year.

 

[That70sGAdawg]

I'm just not sure I'll be able to read the phone text without going to accessibility settings ( which throw everything off) . I'll use zoomed view, and find out on Friday.