iPhone 13 mini iPhone 8 Plus to 13 Mini

[Dr. McKay]

I currently have an iPhone 8 Plus and have been very happy with it. But with iOS 15, I find it's starting to show its age : scrolling and swiping is regularly quite jerky, battery life isn't all that spectacular anymore (not a heavy user but I sometimes struggle to make it through a long day) and it's starting to feel slow (which is subjective but I guess I've been comparing it too much to my girlfriend's 11 Pro lately).

So I'm looking at upgrading and getting myself a 13. For the things I use it for, I feel that a Pro or a Pro Max would be overkill, plus they're really expensive. Started looking at the regular 13, reading reviews and wathing Youtube videos but it seemed that a lot of people were actually more or less raving about the 13 mini.
At first I thought it would be too much of a size difference, but the Mini has a 5.4 inch screen, just a tad smaller than my 8 Plus' 5.5 inch. Also, the price is right for me : 609 euro from Apple Belgium if I turn in my 8 Plus (they're giving me 130 euro for it, and I would be surprised if I could get more for it selling it privately).

Does anyone here have the 13 Mini ?
Anything the regular 13 offers besides slightly better battery life and bigger screen ?
Of course, there's also the SE3 on the horizon (rumored to be released in a couple of months) but I'm not too keen on the battery life of the SE phones. Both my son and daughter have had the SE1 and now have the SE2 ; they're both very happy with it but battery life could be a lot better. Plus, it'll be the older design again with the Touch ID and the black bezels, and I feel it's time for something new after the 8 Plus and the 6S Plus, 5S and 4S I had before that.

Any advice ?

 

[now i see it]

iOS 15 crippled your 8 Plus.
I’m using an 8 Plus on iOS 14 and it’s very fast & fluid. Works great.
There’s so many different things going on with the 13 Mini compared to your 8 Plus that the only way to know if you’ll like the smaller phone is to buy one and use it.
If you like it, keep it. If not, return that sucker.
But whatever you do, don’t sell your 8 Plus until AFTER you’ve made up your mind on the phone you know you’re going to keep.

Screen sizes are measured diagonally. The Mini has a very long screen compared its width. The usable space of the 13 Mini is WAY smaller than the 8 Plus because the 8 Plus is much wider.

 

[Dr. McKay]

Reverting back to iOS14 is not an option.
I understand that the screen of my 8 Plus is wider but you still only have 4 apps in one row, and that goes for the 13 Pro Max as well, if I'm not mistaken.
As for widgets, don't use them, never have, never will. I like it clean, 'old style'. So 'useable' screen size isn't all that important. I don't play games, save from the casual Candy Crush session, but that's about it.
Otherwise, it's just phone calls, mail, messaging, some home banking apps, reading news apps, taking some pictures, etc. the usual suspects, really ; I never shop online using my phone, or use a browser (way too awkward, even on a large phone), as these are all things I prefer to use my MB Pro for.

Yes, everything's going to be smaller, but that Mini is so perfect to handle. I'll admit, the Pro Max is really impressive but it's way too big. The normal Pro is too expensive as well and has the same 6.1 inch screen as the regular 13, so I'm considering that too as it's only 100 euro more expensive than the Mini.

The Mini also has a higher pixel density than the normal 13, is that something one might notice ?

 

[lkalliance]

I think you hit the nail on the head with the three basic differences between the 13 and the mini:

Mini is smaller
13 has better battery life
Mini is lighter

I came from an SE 2020, and I agree the mini screen is longer but just as wide. But in a size that is so much more pocketable. The SE 2020’s battery life was very disappointing; the mini’s is significantly better.

When I compared the regular 13 to the mini, I found they held the same amount of content, just the mini rendered it smaller. This was definitely NOT an exhaustive test, just a few websites. Still, that surprised me, and made it easy to choose the mini because it feels so perfect in the hand.

That, I think, is the bottom line: the 13’s larger screen is less of an improvement than one would think, and the mini has a decent battery. Which one feels better to hold should determine the choice.

 

[MyPhone99]

don't go by the numbers w.r.t screen sizes. its a gimmick, 6/7/8 models are 16:9 aspect ratio so even though the 8+ is 5.5 (which is lesser than the regular 11/12/13 i.e 6.1) the screen 8+ is more readable and more content will go in compared to the 6.1 inches screen. Forget about the mini if you use your iphone for browsing or content reading.

 

[cfs]

My .02...

I was in a similar boat as you. I had the 7Plus. Great phone and was showing it's age. 5 years was a good run.

I looked at the 13 mini and 13Pro. I loved the lightness and size of the mini. That said, I was not sure if my day to day reading, texting, responding would be a good expereince on a screen design that slim.

My process then centered around cost and what money was buying me. The costy of the 13 Pro was no different than my original 7Plus, but considering there are lower priced iPhones I wasn't going to buy the high end for this reason alone. I needed the 256GB model due to the size of my iCloud backups. The price difference between the mini and pro was $300USD. The regular 13 was off the table for me because I wasn't benefitting from a smaller sized phone in terms of it "disappearing" in my pocket, and for what the Pro offers, the extra $200 wasn't worth the savings.

I ended up deciding on the Pro because the camera was superior for filming and photos (I still have young kids), and better battery life. For me knowing if I was to keep my phone for years, the extra $300 was worth it. Especially with my life in the pandemic where a random pop up emergency Zoom takes place when I am out and about on a "day off".

Something to consider is purchasing the mini on the iPhone Upgrade Program. Then if you don't like it after a year, trade it, get a new phone through the proram, pay it off, and keep it as long as you like.

I decided to do that this time around. It feels like a win- for me at least.

Hope this helps!

 

[Dr. McKay]

A video comparing the 8 Plus and the 13 Mini :

The 8 Plus is of course a lot bigger but take away the bezels and then there really isn't all that much difference. On the 8 Plus, the icons are just a tad bigger and a bit further apart but there really isn't more on screen. The wider screen will probably make a difference when using a browser and for reading, but I don't read on the iPhone (except quickly glancing at the latest news using Google News or another news app) and I don't use browsers on phones since there's simply no phone big enough to comfortably surf the web (you'll need an iPad Mini for that at the very least).

 

[tedley]

don't go by the numbers w.r.t screen sizes. its a gimmick, 6/7/8 models are 16:9 aspect ratio so even though the 8+ is 5.5 (which is lesser than the regular 11/12/13 i.e 6.1) the screen 8+ is more readable and more content will go in compared to the 6.1 inches screen. Forget about the mini if you use your iphone for browsing or content reading.

Thank you!!! I have been looking for someone to address that exact issue. I own an 8plus. ANY reduction is readability for web content is not acceptable to me. I was considering a 6.1 model. Looks like I will need to go 6.7 upon upgrade.

What I have determined is that if you are placing a high priority on content like reading web pages emails etc, the critical measurement is the width of the screen. The diagonal measurement means very little. The 6.1 model screens are about 4mm narrower than the 5.5s. Pro max is about 3mn wider than the 8plus. (5.5)

 

[HalfFullmoon]

Why did you choose iPhone 8 plus instead of regular 8? Don't fall for Mini being $100 less.

 

[Dr. McKay]

Why did you choose iPhone 8 plus instead of regular 8? Don't fall for Mini being $100 less.

Well, at the time, bigger was better in my eyes and I must say that the 13 Pro Max looks impressive and appealing but it's not easy to handle. My 8 Plus doesn't feel too big in my hands (I've got big hands and reasonably long fingers, which comes in handy as a piano player but that's beside the point ? ) , and I've never had any use for the 'reachability' option in the 8 Plus, but the Pro Max might be too much to handle (about 250 grams with a case), although the Pro Max is physically just a little bit bigger than the 8 Plus.

I'm considering the regular 13 as well ; my girlfriend has the 11 Pro and I must admit it's quite an appealing size but I'll have to compare the two when I'm in store. She didn't go for the regular 11 only because she absolutely needed the better battery life of the pro ; for me, that's not a deal breaker.
However, things are not that clear in my head. I find the 6.1 inch size of the 13 and the 13 Pro to be neither fish nor fowl (if that's the right expression, I'm not a native English speaker). It's easier to handle then the 6.7 Pro Max but doesn't give you the ultimate 'pocketability' of the 5.4 Mini ; on the other hand, the 6.1 phones offer more 'screen real estate' than the Mini but pales (for lack of a better word) in comparison to the Pro Max.
Also, the 6.1 seems to be the most 'boring' option. The 6.7 Pro Max makes me go 'wow', the Mini 'cool, look at how small and powerful this thing is'... If that make any sense at all. Plus, you may have noticed that I'm of a pretty indecisive nature... ?

Only way to be sure is to go to a store again and try them out, really. Or I could wait it out until the 14 comes out, which would make the decision a bit easier as the Mini won't be an option anymore (apparently)...

 

[BreakYurAnkles]

1. what's your battery health on your 8+?

2. might want to have apple replace the battery and keep it. (this will improve your battery life and *possibly improve performance*) and its possibly a cheap and easy fix for your current problem.

3. buy the mini and see if you like it (while you're getting your 8+ battery replaced)

4. If the new battery for your 8+ improves battery and performance to a level in which you're happy, keep it and return the 13 mini and wait for what apple releases with the 14's.

best wishes.

 

[Dr. McKay]

Holding out until the 14 comes out is an option as well, of course. If I really want the Mini and there's no 14 Mini, then I can always get a 13 Mini at that time, maybe save some money in the process.
I'm sure there will be plenty of stock left ; in fact, if I wanted to buy a 13 Pro Max right now, I'd be out of luck since it's out of stock everywhere, whether it's brick and mortar stores or trustworthy online stores that ship to my address. Every iPhone or iPad seems to be sold out temporarily due to chip shortages, except for the most expensive iPad Pro and the iPhone 13 Mini.
Which shows that people in general aren't really interested in the Mini...

 

[Dr. McKay]

Something else I've been contemplating : I know it's hard to predict but how future proof are the 13 Mini and the regular 13 with their 4Gb of RAM, which is only 1Gb more than my current 'old' iPhone 8 Plus.
I bought my 8 Plus in 2018 so I generally keep my phones for about 4 years and as my 8 Plus was the most expensive iPhone I could buy at the time, I'm kind of afraid that going for a 'baseline' iPhone now might have an impact on its usability four years down the line (seeing that my 8 Plus, which was top of the line in 2018, doesn't seem to be handling the latest iOS version very well now).

Makes me think I'd better go for the 13 Pro (not Max) as it's physically more or less the same size as my 8 Plus and has the same weight, which I can live with, I guess...

 

[ian87w]

Something else I've been contemplating : I know it's hard to predict but how future proof are the 13 Mini and the regular 13 with their 4Gb of RAM, which is only 1Gb more than my current 'old' iPhone 8 Plus.
I bought my 8 Plus in 2018 so I generally keep my phones for about 4 years and as my 8 Plus was the most expensive iPhone I could buy at the time, I'm kind of afraid that going for a 'baseline' iPhone now might have an impact on its usability four years down the line (seeing that my 8 Plus, which was top of the line in 2018, doesn't seem to be handling the latest iOS version very well now).

Makes me think I'd better go for the 13 Pro (not Max) as it's physically more or less the same size as my 8 Plus and has the same weight, which I can live with, I guess...

The Pro Max actually is not that much bigger than the Plus iPhones. They're roughly the same. It's just that the rounded body of the older iPhone made it feel smaller in the hand, and the edge-to-edge screen on the Pro Max made it seem to be huge.

If you can handle the Plus, the Pro Max shouldn't be a problem either. It all depends on how pocketable you want your phone to be.

4 years is fine, even if you picked the 11. The RAM thing shouldn't be an issue. The iPhone 8 has 2GB of RAM, so Apple still has to take that into consideration on future versions of iOS as long as they support the 8. Even the XR only has 3GB RAM. If you find your current 8 Plus performance to be alright, then you won't have to worry about usability in the future for the 13.

 

[Dr. McKay]

Reading too many reviews and watching too many Youtube videos on the subject is bad for one's mental health...

I still had my 4S lying around somewhere in the cupboard and the first SE's of my kids. They're really tiny compared to my 8 Plus but, boy, do they feel a lot better in my hand. And they're so light !
Now, I realize even the 13 Mini is considerably bigger and a fair bit heavier than the SE1 but it just made me realize that I really shoud be getting the smaller possible iPhone around, and that's the 13 Mini.

To be honest, I don't really need ProMotion, never missed it in the past for the basic stuff I do with a phone, and I have to admit that the size and weight of my 8 Plus have bothered me more than once in the past few years.
The only thing I'm concerned about is battery life. If a phone lasts me a whole day with a bit left, then I'm content with that ; plus, the Mini theoretically has marginally better battery life than my 8 Plus (which has only started letting me down for the past few weeks).

So, I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible about the 13 Mini, especially regarding battery life for a 'normal' user (heave use for me is less than half an hour of video playback, taking around 20 pictures, and checking my mail every 10 minutes...).

 

[lkalliance]

Reading too many reviews and watching too many Youtube videos on the subject is bad for one's mental health...

Tell me about it!

To be honest, I don't really need ProMotion, never missed it in the past for the basic stuff I do with a phone, and I have to admit that the size and weight of my 8 Plus have bothered me more than once in the past few years.

I felt the same way about ProMotion. I had been considering the 13 Pro, but only for the telephoto lens. I ended up getting the mini, for kind of the same reason you're talking about: once I held it in my hand, I KNEW this was the right one.

The only thing I'm concerned about is battery life. If a phone lasts me a whole day with a bit left, then I'm content with that ; plus, the Mini theoretically has marginally better battery life than my 8 Plus (which has only started letting me down for the past few weeks).

So, I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible about the 13 Mini, especially regarding battery life for a 'normal' user (heave use for me is less than half an hour of video playback, taking around 20 pictures, and checking my mail every 10 minutes...).

OK, so I had been on the SE 2020 for a couple of years, and I found that that had poor battery life. MOST (but not all) of the usage for me is texting, light web browsing, email, some YouTube videos, my morning Sudoku and my afternoon New York Times crossword puzzle, and photos. Not a huge amount of photos, perhaps 20 photos and a couple of videos per week or less. But I do tend to edit MOST of them on the phone. And I wear a continuous glucose monitor, so every five minutes my phone is querying that monitor and getting data, 24 hours a day. Also it's talking with my Apple Watch all the time. No social media. I understand that the Facebook app has been in the past a real battery hog, though I don't know about that any more. And it's my primary work phone as well, so a few times a week I'm on conference calls (though not video conference). When I drive (which is way less often than I used to), I play podcasts over bluetooth to my car stereo, and let's say I've got to use Maps for driving directions on average about four or five times a month.

So that's my usage profile, you can compare that to yours. The phone's data shows 4-5 hours a day screen time.

Under that kind of load, I was plugging in my SE 2020 mid day, every day. And I was plugging it into my car's power every single time I went out. I could dawdle over a crossword and see the battery drop ten percent. It was discouraging. The 13 mini has easily lasted a full day. I have not plugged it in mid-day once. I plug it in when I go to bed. One time, I had not realized that my power cord had dislodged from the charger, and I woke up to a 60% full battery, and still it made it all the way through the day. I haven't yet had to charge it in the car.

This morning it has been in (for me) heavy use: about five minutes of Australian Open video highlights, dawdling over the tournament schedule, morning Sudoku, morning Wordle, about ten minutes of other web browsing, and a 75-minute phone call. I'd say that's over the course of three hours. Battery now shows 89%. My SE 2020 would definitely already have been down to 60%. In fact, I would have plugged it in to top it off before the phone call.

Now, take it all with a grain of salt: this is a brand new mini, with a brand new battery. But that being said, I am very very pleased.

EDITED TO ADD: The two downsides I have found with the mini are that I miss Touch ID instead of Face ID. I hope that's a matter of just getting used to new muscle memory. I also find that sometimes its touch sensitivity is lesser at the edges of the screen than it has been on my past iPhones. Could be a figment of my imagination, though.

 

[HalfFullmoon]

Tell me about it!



I felt the same way about ProMotion. I had been considering the 13 Pro, but only for the telephoto lens. I ended up getting the mini, for kind of the same reason you're talking about: once I held it in my hand, I KNEW this was the right one.



OK, so I had been on the SE 2020 for a couple of years, and I found that that had poor battery life. MOST (but not all) of the usage for me is texting, light web browsing, email, some YouTube videos, my morning Sudoku and my afternoon New York Times crossword puzzle, and photos. Not a huge amount of photos, perhaps 20 photos and a couple of videos per week or less. But I do tend to edit MOST of them on the phone. And I wear a continuous glucose monitor, so every five minutes my phone is querying that monitor and getting data, 24 hours a day. Also it's talking with my Apple Watch all the time. No social media. I understand that the Facebook app has been in the past a real battery hog, though I don't know about that any more. And it's my primary work phone as well, so a few times a week I'm on conference calls (though not video conference). When I drive (which is way less often than I used to), I play podcasts over bluetooth to my car stereo, and let's say I've got to use Maps for driving directions on average about four or five times a month.

So that's my usage profile, you can compare that to yours. The phone's data shows 4-5 hours a day screen time.

Under that kind of load, I was plugging in my SE 2020 mid day, every day. And I was plugging it into my car's power every single time I went out. I could dawdle over a crossword and see the battery drop ten percent. It was discouraging. The 13 mini has easily lasted a full day. I have not plugged it in mid-day once. I plug it in when I go to bed. One time, I had not realized that my power cord had dislodged from the charger, and I woke up to a 60% full battery, and still it made it all the way through the day. I haven't yet had to charge it in the car.

This morning it has been in (for me) heavy use: about five minutes of Australian Open video highlights, dawdling over the tournament schedule, morning Sudoku, morning Wordle, about ten minutes of other web browsing, and a 75-minute phone call. I'd say that's over the course of three hours. Battery now shows 89%. My SE 2020 would definitely already have been down to 60%. In fact, I would have plugged it in to top it off before the phone call.

Now, take it all with a grain of salt: this is a brand new mini, with a brand new battery. But that being said, I am very very pleased.

If you change the battery of SE 2020, you will probably get the same battery usage results as the 13 Mini.

I misspoke. I thought they both had the same battery capacity. 13 Mini has 30% more battery capacity than SE 2020.

 

[Dr. McKay]

@Ikalliance : thanks ! Not to worry about the battery life of the Mini, then…

It’s going to take some time getting used to Face ID, too, but that’s the way it is, I guess.
Going to a store this afternoon, to check out the weight and feel of the different models. And also take a look at the new MB Pros as my mid 2015 Model might be up for replacement as well

 

[azentropy]

I have the 12 mini and while the screen overall is larger than the regular 6/6s/7/8/2020 SE, in some cases it feels smaller because of the aspect ratio change and that it is more narrow. It probably is even more noticeable coming from a "Plus". I'm fine wit it because 95% of the time I prefer the smaller form factor. But do wish it was just a tad bit wider.

 

[Dr. McKay]

Went to visit a store yesterday, to get feel of the different models.
The Pro Max is WAY too big, almost to the point of feeling ridiculous. The normal 13 and Pro at 6.1 inch are okay, I guess, but still too long for one-handed use.
The Mini is just perfect for me, it really is, and I wonder why I went for the 8 Plus I have now...

 

[stanza.richi]

Went to visit a store yesterday, to get feel of the different models.
The Pro Max is WAY too big, almost to the point of feeling ridiculous. The normal 13 and Pro at 6.1 inch are okay, I guess, but still too long for one-handed use.
The Mini is just perfect for me, it really is, and I wonder why I went for the 8 Plus I have now...

I made something similar in few years: from 8 plus, bought for the better battery compared with 8, to XS and then to 12 mini. Still in love with my mini and sometimes thinking about buying a ipad 6 mini instead of my 12.9 pro ?

 

[Dr. McKay]

I made something similar in few years: from 8 plus, bought for the better battery compared with 8, to XS and then to 12 mini. Still in love with my mini and sometimes thinking about buying a ipad 6 mini instead of my 12.9 pro ?

Funny you should say that. I used to own a 12.9 iPad Pro (2nd gen) and sold it a couple of months ago, due to it being way too heavy to work with.
My first iPhone was a 4S, then a 5S, after that a 6S Plus and now the 8 Plus. Guess I always used to go for the top of the line, not really taking into account the fact that the phone might be too big for me. To be honest, my favourite out of all of those was the 5S, as it was just the perfect format. The 13 Mini is bigger, but the minute I held it in my hand, it immediately reminded me of the things that made the 5S so good.

 

[AnthroMatt]

Went to visit a store yesterday, to get feel of the different models.
The Pro Max is WAY too big, almost to the point of feeling ridiculous. The normal 13 and Pro at 6.1 inch are okay, I guess, but still too long for one-handed use.
The Mini is just perfect for me, it really is, and I wonder why I went for the 8 Plus I have now...

I had a 12 Mini but upgraded to a 13 to get the better cameras. Wasn’t long before I got rid of my 13 and got a 13 mini…I love the size and with all the talk that there will be no more minis, I felt compelled to get the mini.

 

[Ram65]

There will be no 14mini so just order the 13mini and enjoy what apple has to offer

 

[prazakj]

@Ikalliance : thanks ! Not to worry about the battery life of the Mini, then…

It’s going to take some time getting used to Face ID, too, but that’s the way it is, I guess.
Going to a store this afternoon, to check out the weight and feel of the different models. And also take a look at the new MB Pros as my mid 2015 Model might be up for replacement as well

You really shouldn’t. Mini was quite outstanding for me switching from 12 mini to 13 mini. I didn’t expected that much jump.