Apple released the iPhone 12 mini at its ‘Hi Speed’ event in October last year. For years, people have asked for the smartphone industry to once again make compact phones. The iPhone 12 mini comes very close to being the best compact phone but it falls short in some areas.
The iPhone 12 mini features a 5.4” Super Retina XDR Display which is super sharp and crisp to look at. The display gets very bright as well – 625 nits typically and 1200nits peak (in HDR content).
Smaller body = smaller battery
The body of the iPhone 12 mini is similar to the standard 6.1” iPhone 12 – made of aluminium and glass – while of course being much smaller. The major disadvantage with the iPhone 12 mini’s small body is the fact that it does not pack a large battery.
The battery life of the iPhone 12 mini is nothing magnificent. It’s much lower than all other iPhone 12 models and even lower than older iPhones like the iPhone 11 and the iPhone XR which were released it 2018 and 2019 respectively.
If Apple could have instead used a slightly lower quality display panel to give the battery a boost would have been a good move. However, even with such a move, some users would have complained about the display not being upto the mark. A compromise has to be made somewhere and Apple decided to compromise on the battery backup.
The cameras on the iPhone 12 mini are the same as the one found on the regular 6.1” iPhone 12. The iPhone 12 mini starts at $729 unlocked for the 64GB base model whereas the 6.1” iPhone 12 starts at $829 unlocked for the 64GB base model.
The iPhone 12 mini is a very capable device – its fast. But the not so upto the mark battery is a disappointment.
