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iPhone 13 mini iPhone 13 mini Battery Health

M

Major774

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 4, 2020
202
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Creating this thread in preparation of my new iPhone 13 mini. I will report back in 2022 on my battery capacity, when the iPhone 14 (I assume) is released.

Currently I have been MagSafe charging my launch day iPhone 12 mini every night (with random wireless charging top ups). The phone has never been plugged into via the cable, and yes, I am able to run port less if it every gets to this stage. It is now Sep 2021 and my battery capacity is at 89%.

I hope this helps anyone who has battery capacity worries.
 
So 89% of the capacity within a year is pretty steep. My iPhone 11 Pro has just hit 89% a couple of weeks ago.

Although this entirely depends on the number of charge cycle you go through.
 
catean said:
I think wireless charging is killing those batteries.
Click to expand...

That’s what I was thinking. It seems like a lot of the battery health numbers reported here from any model of the 12 series is lower than usual.

My XS Max, which I primary charge with the 5W wired charger, is still at 88% after 3 years (got it on launch day).
 
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I’ve had my XR for 2 years and 11 months. It’s at 89% battery health. I charge it every day, and only using a 5W “slow” charger. I don’t care since I charge at night when I sleep.
 
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catean said:
I think wireless charging is killing those batteries.
Click to expand...
It appears that way.

  • If you are upgrading yearly, charging method does not matter.
  • If you are keeping for the longer term, a slow charge via cable is better.
 
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catean said:
I think wireless charging is killing those batteries.
Click to expand...
iPhone 12 Mini bought last Thanksgiving. Charged via MagSafe 90% of the time. Almost always charged to only around 90% max. Rarely ever below 30%-40%.
Screen Shot 2021-09-21 at 7.58.43 AM.png
 
catean said:
iPhone 12 mini, 7 months old, charged with the 18w fast charger via cable, 99%.
Click to expand...
I haven't been so lucky, my 12 mini, 10 months old, is at 86%. Optimized battery charging turned on for the duration but I can't seem to make it do anything. Use the 20w charger with the magsafe puck. With my 13 mini I'm going to use a 5W charger wired and see if it does better. My son's 12 mini is at 96%, it started service on release day just as mine did.
 
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Had my 12 mini since the launch. It's at 99%. I never use any fast charging. Alway use 5W wired charging and charge only to 80-90%, rarely to 100%. Also almost never let it fall below 20-25% charge.

Biggest culprit for a fast battery degradation is generally fully charging and fully draining the battery.
I always try to keep it between 20-85%.
 
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Major774 said:
It is now Sep 2021 and my battery capacity is at 89%.
Click to expand...
That's borderline horrible and testament right there that that charging practice is accelerating battery degradation.
An iPhone battery can easily outlast the useful life of the phone (+7 years) if it's charged with respect.
 
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now i see it said:
That's borderline horrible and testament right there that that charging practice is accelerating battery degradation.
An iPhone battery can easily outlast the useful life of the phone (+7 years) if it's charged with respect.
Click to expand...
Indeed, food for thought for owners who keep their phones for the long run.
 
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now i see it said:
That's borderline horrible and testament right there that that charging practice is accelerating battery degradation.
An iPhone battery can easily outlast the useful life of the phone (+7 years) if it's charged with respect.
Click to expand...

I’m still on iPhone 4. It’s been my only phone since 2010. Even without any respectful charging practice original battery working fine (78% capacity).
 
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Major774 said:
It appears that way.

  • If you are upgrading yearly, charging method does not matter.
  • If you are keeping for the longer term, a slow charge via cable is better.
Click to expand...

Or if keeping longer term then just pay about €70 every two years or so to have Apple replace the battery.

Decide for yourself if the convenience of wireless is worth about €35/year in extra costs (on top of what you paid for your wireless charger anyway) and if so just accept the price and forget about battery health.

BTW if you do charge with a wire don’t use your phone for heavy tasks like gaming while it’s charging as that’s effectively the same heat damage.
 
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v386 said:
I haven't been so lucky, my 12 mini, 10 months old, is at 86%. Optimized battery charging turned on for the duration but I can't seem to make it do anything.
Click to expand...
Do you have "Significant Locations" disabled? That's what kept it from working for me initially. You can immediately see if it's working since it pops up a dialog on the screen. See:

About Charge Limit and Optimized Battery Charging on iPhone - Apple Support

To improve the lifespan of your battery, your iPhone learns from your daily charging habits.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

FWIW, my SE (2020) shows 98% capacity after ~17 months, using over-night wired "optimized charging". But I am a very light WFH user during the pandemic and sometimes even skip a day.
 
This is the only thing that I wanna know about the Mini, I start to read great reviews about the normal 13 battery, so if the mini is close I go for the Mini.

Camera, Chip bla bla is fine, so battery is the only thing that I need to know.
 
I've never had an issue with battery health on previous iPhones, but my 12 Pro has been bad (88%).

It got badly overheated on vacation which did much of that damage, but I've also used a 20W iPad charging brick with Magsafe Duo iPhone / Watch combo travel wireless charger almost every night, albeit with optimised charging turned on.

New 13 will now only ever go on low power cable & infrequent low power wireless - Apple duo charger going onto eBay!
 
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