I would recommend eBay for these older devices. In this case Apple does not sell it refurbed, but others do. Mine had a 60 day warranty, the seller was extremely responsive, accepted the return. The replacement looks perfect. Same 60 day warranty. And eBay protects buyers.
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iPhone 13 mini iphone 13 mini: how much longer a viable device?
- Thread starter rwh63
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Black Market has a Quality Pact for the Premium grade.
- Impeccable condition
- Original Apple parts
- Battery over 90%.
But be careful
If the battery arrives with 100%, it has probably been tampered with.
In that case, expect to pay an additional €99 to have the battery replaced by Apple.
The scam is the same for Amazon or eBay.
- Impeccable condition
- Original Apple parts
- Battery over 90%.
But be careful
If the battery arrives with 100%, it has probably been tampered with.
In that case, expect to pay an additional €99 to have the battery replaced by Apple.
The scam is the same for Amazon or eBay.
The phone I am returning, after two months of use, has performed flawlessly and the battery reads 100% max capacity.
Saem. Most of the devices I've bought recently are from eBay. It's worth looking at the seller's reputation and no problems for many years. Since I also love iPhones mini, it's the only way for me too
This thread began by asking about viability.
I suggest that each individual has a different definition of viability.
If one means “the device will accept the newest OS”, there’s a hard cut-off point.
If viability is synonymous with usability, your mileage may vary. I use a MacBook Pro from mid-2009 for torrenting videos. I use an iPad.mini from 2016 for watching movies in bed. I listen to streaming music from an 8 Plus. None of these gadgets runs the newest OS.
As long as I can put a new battery in my 13.mini, I’m pretty sure that I’ll resist the “new”. I’m not interested in Ai with independent agency …
I suggest that each individual has a different definition of viability.
If one means “the device will accept the newest OS”, there’s a hard cut-off point.
If viability is synonymous with usability, your mileage may vary. I use a MacBook Pro from mid-2009 for torrenting videos. I use an iPad.mini from 2016 for watching movies in bed. I listen to streaming music from an 8 Plus. None of these gadgets runs the newest OS.
As long as I can put a new battery in my 13.mini, I’m pretty sure that I’ll resist the “new”. I’m not interested in Ai with independent agency …
I would hope in the next 3 - 4 years the awareness around the huge decline in mental health caused by excessive device usage will pick up, especially among young people.
As soon as it starts to affect Apple's bottom line, with any luck there'll be a shift back towards less intrusive / smaller phones again which could even time neatly with Apple's forced obsolescence of the mini. Let's hope.
As soon as it starts to affect Apple's bottom line, with any luck there'll be a shift back towards less intrusive / smaller phones again which could even time neatly with Apple's forced obsolescence of the mini. Let's hope.
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My reading leads me to believe that we're nearing an inflection point in personal computing, cf., Jony Ive's integration into the OpenAI hive. Altman said that their device would be a user's third one, alongside an iPhone and MacBook—and that the device would be entirely aware of a user's surroundings, and even their life (source: Apple Insider).
IMHO, this will break along generational lines. (I can't imagine having Ai schedule my dental cleanings without my hand!) But if Ai does many or most things, there won't be the need for a big screen on one's "phone"—except for gaming.
The future is not yet written.
I agree with your framing and also tend to keep devices along the lines you mention.
In the case of an iPhone, I think most people consider its phone, internet, and browser functions and ability to run 3rd-party apps critical to its usability. If major carriers cutoff network access (e.g. like they did for all 3G but for whatever reason) for voice and/or internet then I would consider an iPhone no longer viable/usable (even if it is still fine for iTunes/Music, etc). Though I don't use my phone to browse the internet a lot, if the web becomes unusable/unsafe on it (like IE was long before it was formally killed by MS), I would also consider an iPhone no longer viable for its original purpose (but nothing wrong with repurposing!).
Finally, support from 3rd-party apps becomes an issue at some point. For example, Cisco Duo (often required by many enterprises) recently dropped support for iOS 15 and older. To your point the requirements for this will vary greatly by individual. Some people will only be happy if they can run a certain app that only runs on the latest or N-1 iOS while others just need apps that are still compatible with iOS from years ago (e.g. I think WhatsApp was supporting iOS 12 up until recently).
In the case of the iPhone 13 Mini, as a daily driver along the lines of its original purpose, I'd be quite surprised if carriers drop voice/network support for it before 2035 given it is 5G. As far as iOS, I bet Apple will support it through at least iOS 21. If support is dropped in iOS 22, it should still be usable along the lines above for 2-3 years after that. As a rough guess that means 2030. If Apple let 3rd parties install their own browser engines that would also keep it usable for longer for some people.
Well, my “new” OGSE is set up. Transferred everything over. Battery at 100%. Hope the battery is good quality. Phone and accessories in perfect condition. Hopefully this will see me through for at least a year. I feel so far a good value at about $150.
It’s a cool, itty bitty iPhone. We gave ours to our pool guy because it was only a 16gig model and couldn’t handle our gazillion photos in iCloud. He wrecked it in less than a year.
So my OGSE suddently let me down and then commited hari-kari to force me to buy a new phone. Up until this week I was thinking about waiting until I found the perfect alternative -- perhaps finding alternate apps and migrating -- but this week was not the week for that so I pulled the trigger on a refurb iPhone 13 Mini.
Hate to reinforce this to other remaining members of the small phone club but honestly I like this less than I thought I would. I didn't fully appreciate how perfectly sized the OGSE and like fit in my hands until I really spent time with this. My fingers just curled around the OGSE while this is just a little too wide to comfortably grip. I feel much more likely to drop this thing and it's not going to fit in a lot of my pockets with or without a case.
In retrospect the height of the OGSE was also just right for my thumb to reach right below the status bar when the phone was resting on a finger in portrait mode. With this thing I can't reach the top two rows of icons. And annoyingly, reaching Control Center is now almost a two-handed operation. Mostly I find myself mostly using this thing two-handed.
One mitigating factor is iOS 18's flexible home screen layout. I can put widgets at the top of the screen and/or just move the app icons to the bottom so most things are within reach.
To the OP's question, how much longer viable? The OGSE with iOS 15 was becoming unusuable for me. If I let it fall into Low Power mode -- which I did try to avoid -- just typing was oddly painful. Like does it require a supercomputer to make the keyboard work? Though I try to avoid Uber, the app was also ridiculously slow even though it originally worked fine as a new app in the 3GS/4/S days. That almost left me stranded. There's no good reason for iOS 15+ to be so much less efficient than iOS 12 (I booted up my backup iPhonse 5S running iOS 12 during this time and really iOS could have stayed there). There's no good reason for apps to be as slow as they are on this hardware and then drop anything pre iOS 16 anyway. But they are and they do.
However as a testament to subtly Good Design of the 5S/SE and previous, I now see why the iPhone 12/13 failed. They were compromised products. Too big to be one-handed phones, they were just two-handed phones with small screens.
Just to be clear, I have no regrets getting the iPhone 13 Mini over a newer phone that's even bigger. I just don't predict any nostaliga for it when it's inevitably time to replace it.
Hate to reinforce this to other remaining members of the small phone club but honestly I like this less than I thought I would. I didn't fully appreciate how perfectly sized the OGSE and like fit in my hands until I really spent time with this. My fingers just curled around the OGSE while this is just a little too wide to comfortably grip. I feel much more likely to drop this thing and it's not going to fit in a lot of my pockets with or without a case.
In retrospect the height of the OGSE was also just right for my thumb to reach right below the status bar when the phone was resting on a finger in portrait mode. With this thing I can't reach the top two rows of icons. And annoyingly, reaching Control Center is now almost a two-handed operation. Mostly I find myself mostly using this thing two-handed.
One mitigating factor is iOS 18's flexible home screen layout. I can put widgets at the top of the screen and/or just move the app icons to the bottom so most things are within reach.
To the OP's question, how much longer viable? The OGSE with iOS 15 was becoming unusuable for me. If I let it fall into Low Power mode -- which I did try to avoid -- just typing was oddly painful. Like does it require a supercomputer to make the keyboard work? Though I try to avoid Uber, the app was also ridiculously slow even though it originally worked fine as a new app in the 3GS/4/S days. That almost left me stranded. There's no good reason for iOS 15+ to be so much less efficient than iOS 12 (I booted up my backup iPhonse 5S running iOS 12 during this time and really iOS could have stayed there). There's no good reason for apps to be as slow as they are on this hardware and then drop anything pre iOS 16 anyway. But they are and they do.
However as a testament to subtly Good Design of the 5S/SE and previous, I now see why the iPhone 12/13 failed. They were compromised products. Too big to be one-handed phones, they were just two-handed phones with small screens.
Just to be clear, I have no regrets getting the iPhone 13 Mini over a newer phone that's even bigger. I just don't predict any nostaliga for it when it's inevitably time to replace it.