iPhone 12 Mini: A Mini Review
Originally Posted: November 28th, 2020
iPhone 12 Mini Review
Another fall, another wave of new iPhones. This year Apple released four different models in three sizes:
iPhone 12 (left) vs. iPhone 12 Mini (right). Image Credit: Apple.com
5.4” iPhone 12 Mini
6.1” iPhone 12
6.1” iPhone 12 Pro
6.7” iPhone 12 Pro Max
If you’re familiar with the modern iPhone X-style design, there’s not too much new here. Between the four new models, most of the important things are the same. They all have a iPhone 5-esque industrial design with flat sides, they all have OLED screens, and they all have the new A14 SoC. They all support MagSafe. They all have 5G. What’s more interesting is where the new models are different: size, cameras, and battery life.
The Pro models have a few extra features like the LIDAR sensor, telephoto lens, and slightly brighter screen. For most people though, I think size is the main thing to consider. If you want the biggest size, you have to go Pro Max. If you want the smallest size, you can’t get those Pro features. The middle is murkier, but out at the edges, the choices are clear.
It’s All About the Size
The most important thing about the iPhone 12 Mini is the size. In body dimensions, the 12 Mini is smaller than the iPhone 6/7/8/SE2, but a bit bigger than the iPhone 5/5S/SE. The 12 Mini is about halfway between the two. It feels more like an iPhone 5, thanks to the squared off sides. Without comparing an iPhone 5 and 12 Mini side by side, you’d be hard pressed to find a difference in feel.
I have relatively big hands, but I’ve always liked smaller phones. For the past year, I was using a 5.8” iPhone 11 Pro. I didn’t need the “Pro” features, I chose it because it was the smallest size available. Despite having a great camera and great battery life, the 11 Pro always felt too big and too heavy. The 12 Mini feels just right. A few millimeters and a few dozen grams may not seem like much, but in your hand it is. You have to see and feel the phones in person to fully understand. After using the 12 Mini for a few days, my 11 Pro felt like an oversized brick.
iPhone 11 Pro (left) vs. iPhone 12 Mini (right).
Traditionally, new iPhone designs are bigger, not smaller. The original iPhone had a 3.5" screen, which Steve Jobs deemed "giant". The iPhone 5 grew to 4", the 6 and 6 Plus jumped to 4.7" and 5.5", and the iPhone X went edge-to-edge with a 5.8" screen. It's been a long march upward in size, and weight.
Sometimes, Apple will leave an older design around, update it, and call it the iPhone SE. Back in 2016, the original iPhone SE was an iPhone 5 body with iPhone 6S internals. The 2nd generation iPhone SE came earlier this year, with iPhone 11 internals in an iPhone 8 body. The SE models were always meant to be the cheap iPhone. By using the last-generation design, Apple could update what mattered, while keeping the price low. The iPhone SE is only small because new iPhones kept getting bigger. With the 12 Mini, you don’t have to choose between new and big, or old and small.
My favorite advantage of the small size is how much easier it is to swipe down to access notifications or Control Center. It was always a stretch for me to support the 11 Pro with my pinky and swipe down on the top of the screen with my thumb. With the Mini, it’s significantly easier. The biggest downside I’ve noticed is typing accuracy. A smaller screen means a smaller keyboard. My clumsy thumbs took a few days to adjust, but I still make more mistakes than I did on a larger size. Built-in swiping and autocorrect makes this mostly a non-issue for me, but your milage may vary.
Battery Life
Before getting the 12 Mini, I was worried about battery life. It's physics: a smaller phone is going to have a smaller battery. A lot of reviews mentioned battery life as a weak spot, and I expected that. Compared to the non-Pro iPhone 12, the Mini has a 20% smaller battery. The Mini also has a smaller screen which uses less energy, but that difference is less than 20%. The result is less battery life, especially under heavy use.
For context, here’s most of the recent models of iPhone, their battery capacity, and the quoted number of hours of local video playback.
iPhone Battery Capacity, sorted by size class:
Small - 4", 4.7", 5.4"
iPhone SE (1st Gen) - 1624mAh, 13 hours
iPhone 7 - 1960mAh, 13 hours
iPhone 8 - 1821mAh, 13 hours
iPhone 12 Mini - 2227mAh, 15 hours
Medium - 5.8"
iPhone X - 2716mAh, 13 hours
iPhone XS - 2658mAh, 14 hours
iPhone 11 Pro - 3046mAh, 18 hours
Large - 6.1"
iPhone XR - 2942mAh, 16 hours
iPhone 11 - 3110mAh, 17 hours
iPhone 12 - 2815mAh, 17 hours
Plus/Max - 5.5", 6.5", 6.7"
iPhone 7 Plus - 2900mAh, 14 hours
iPhone 8 Plus - 2675mAh, 14 hours
iPhone XS Max - 3174mAh, 15 hours
iPhone 11 Pro Max - 3969mAh, 20 hours
iPhone 12 Pro Max - 3687mAh, 20 hours
A Few Things Stick Out:
Obviously: bigger screen = bigger battery = longer battery life.
The iPhone 11 and 11 Pro were by far the biggest generational jump. After years of people shouting “make it slightly thicker and put a bigger battery in it!”, Apple did just that.
It’s clear the 12’s focus on efficiency, bringing down the cell size while maintaining the same quoted battery life.
In my first week or two of use, I definitely noticed the lower capacity compared to the 11 Pro. Luckily, I'm never far from a charger, and it's not that big of a deal. When I'm at home or working from home, I always have a cable near me. When I'm in the car, I plug my phone in for CarPlay and charging.
If you’re a power user, you might struggle to get through a full day, depending on how heavy your use is. If you’re like me, you’ll likely just need to pop it on a charger occasionally to avoid battery anxiety. If you’re not coming from a bigger phone, or you’re upgrading from a few-years-old model, you probably won’t even notice. It’s only compared to the best iPhones that the Mini falls down.
Bottom line, for most people most of the time, the battery life is going to be enough. If you’re always struggling to make it through the day, the bigger models are probably what you want. If you’re on the fence, here’s a Reddit thread full of real-world numbers.
MagSafe and the Wallet
I’ve spent more time researching and trying out phone wallet cases than I should. For years, I’ve gone back and forth between having a separate wallet and using wallet cases on my phone. I’ve had a few wallet cases that I’ve liked, but they’re never as convenient as I imagined. Getting a credit card or driver’s license out of a phone wallet is usually an exercise in frustration. I thought the MagSafe wallet would be different, in a good way. A magnetic wallet designed to match up with magnets in the phone sounded like it could be the best of both worlds.
Unfortunately, the MagSafe wallet is more a fashion accessory than a functional wallet. Yes, it looks nice, but what if you want to carry cash, or more than 3 cards? How do you get those cards out? How well does it all work in practice? I'll cut to the chase: I returned the MagSafe wallet.
To eject a card, you have to pull the wallet off of your phone and push up on the cards through the small hole in the back. The little finger window (I didn’t take a good picture of it, but you can see it in Apple’s product shots.) is a nice touch, but sliding a card out is a tricky juggling act. That motion usually causes all 3 cards to come spilling out, so you need to worry about your phone, the wallet, and the ejected cards. The whole process feels clumsy, and it repeatedly failed my quick-draw checkout line testing.
A real-world example: I keep our local grocery store’s membership card in my wallet, under the clear plastic window meant for a driver’s license. This lets me scan the card without removing it from my wallet. I pull my wallet out of my pocket, scan it, and slip my wallet back in my pocket. Using the MagSafe wallet, I had to pull out my phone, break the magnetic connection, flip the wallet around, use my thumb to eject the card, scan it, reassemble my sprawled cards, put them back in the wallet, reattach it to my phone, and put everything back in my pocket.
Using my phone with the wallet attached also felt clumsy. The magnetic connection is strong enough to keep it attached, but not strong enough to keep it from sliding around. I found myself worried about the wallet being lined up, and being careful about how I pulled the phone-wallet sandwich out of my pocket. It felt like a liability more than a convenience. A few reviewers made a big deal about the strength of the magnetic connection for the MagSafe accessories. I think that’s partially true, but my biggest gripe was with how it functioned as a wallet when you went to use it.
Most damningly, it doesn’t hold up well when compared to my existing cheap, thin wallet from Buffway. My wallet is a little bigger, and maybe not as pretty, but it’s a 1/5th of the price, holds everything I need, and doesn’t have to be tied to my phone with a tenuous magnetic connection. The MagSafe wallet loses to it in every way, besides (maybe) looks.
I know I’m being pedantic, but in everyday use the MagSafe wallet was less functional, and for me, not at all worth the $60 price. Sometimes things that are expensive are worse.
Why Buy a New Phone Every Year?
For reference, my personal smartphone history:
iPhone 4
Nexus 4
Nexus 5
Nexus 6P
iPhone 6
iPhone 6S Plus
iPhone 7
iPhone X
iPhone XR
iPhone 11 Pro
iPhone 12 Mini
New phones are less exciting than ever, so why do I keep buying new ones? If I’m being honest, it’s because I’m a nerd and I like new gadgets. I don’t need a new phone every year. Researching, buying, and selling tech products is a hobby for me. With a few exceptions, I have always bought used phones, and sold them when I’m done with them. If you added up the retail cost of all the phones I just listed, I’ve managed to spend a fraction of that due to my habit of buying used, taking good care of them, and selling them when I upgrade.
This year, the opportunity to have a smaller phone made the upgrade worth it. I was able to sell my 11 Pro for a decent price, and I love my new little iPhone. Do I miss the battery life and zoom lens of the 11 Pro? A little, but every time I pick up the 12 Mini it feels right, and I know I made the right choice. Small phone lovers like me should definitely consider the 12 Mini when it’s time to upgrade next.
Side note: While writing this review, I suffered from a severe case of semantic satiation. Mini is one of those words that stops being a word when you see it over and over. Mini. Mini. Many minis. Is it spelled correctly? Is mini even a word? Whether or not it’s a word, the iPhone 12 Mini is definitely an iPhone, and it’s a darn good one.
