The iPhone 12 Mini: A Great Value with Some Compromises

When it comes to Apple's latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone 12 Mini is an attractive option for those who want a compact phone without sacrificing too much performance. With its smaller size and 12 mini form factor, this phone offers many of the same features as its larger counterparts, including the A14 Bionic chip, quad-camera setup, and high-quality display.

One of the standout features of the iPhone 12 Mini is its battery life. While it may not last as long as some of the other iPhones in terms of total battery capacity, Apple has managed to pack a punch with efficiency. In fact, according to the author's own testing, the iPhone 12 Mini was able to outlast even the larger iPhone 10R at a significantly smaller size. This is no small feat, given that Apple's goal is always to balance performance and power consumption.

Another area where the iPhone 12 Mini shines is in its efficiency. The A14 Bionic chip inside is extremely powerful and efficient, making it capable of handling demanding tasks with ease. In fact, the author ran a speed test between the 12 Mini and the 2020 iPhone SE, and was impressed to find that the mini took the win easily.

However, not everything about the iPhone 12 Mini is sunshine and rainbows. One major compromise is its camera setup, which loses the telephoto lens found on larger iPhones. This is a notable omission, especially for those who rely heavily on this feature for tasks like zooming in on distant subjects or recording videos with a wider field of view. Additionally, the mini's smaller size means that it's not ideal for gaming or media consumption, as the screen real estate can be limiting.

That being said, the iPhone 12 Mini is still an incredibly capable device. It handles games and demanding apps with ease, thanks to its four gigabytes of RAM (compared to three on the SE). This makes it a great option for those who want a phone that can keep up with their daily tasks without sacrificing too much performance.

Another advantage of the iPhone 12 Mini is its size and weight. As an older smartphone user mentioned in the article, this can make a big difference when using the phone for extended periods of time. The author also notes that users tend to not want to use their mini as much for video or gaming, but instead stick to more basic tasks like texting, calling, and browsing social media.

In terms of value, the iPhone 12 Mini is definitely worth considering. At $779, it's an attractive option compared to other compact phones on the market, especially when you factor in its high-quality display and quad-camera setup. However, if battery life is a major concern for you, you may want to consider waiting for the iPhone 13 or another model with longer battery life.

Overall, the iPhone 12 Mini is an excellent option for those who want a compact phone that still packs a punch. While it may not offer everything that larger iPhones do, its efficiency, performance, and value make it a great choice for everyday use.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eni've been using the iphone 12 mini for a few weeks now and i just need to get one thing out of the way immediately this phone is not as small as you would think now my first thought when the phone was announced was that it would just be way too small and that i would never be able to use it for a full day but here we are three weeks later and i have some thoughts to share what's up guys my name is brandon and this is my review on the iphone 12 mini so first off we have to address the elephant in the room yes the iphone 12 mini is small it has a 5.4 inch display and weighs just 135 grams with those aluminum edges and the glass front and back it is small but again to my surprise it is not as small as i originally expected and that's due to this edge to edge display because when you think of small phones you know at least my mind immediately goes to the iphone 5s or the iphone se even from earlier this year but those phones have massive bezels and that's what makes the screen seem extremely small and that's where the iphone 12 mini is different it's not small because it doesn't have those bezels it's a small form factor with a big screen on it now yes typing on the mini after using the iphone 12 and 12 pro max did take some adjusting but it was not near as bad as it was on the iphone 5s or the iphone se i really always had trouble on those keyboards and typing would just drive me crazy that was one of the main things i did not like about these smaller form factor iphones of the past but that's just not the case with the iphone 12 mini now i have made mistakes like in snapchat this is a weird example but in snapchat i would go to backspace and i would accidentally hit the send button twice because i was trying to backspace just because i was not familiar with the keyboard layout it was smaller than i was used to but aside from that you know i don't really make too many mistakes on the keyboard and it's not as bad as i thought it would be now if you're trying to game on the 12 mini or use it as your main source of media consumption like watching youtube videos or netflix i would obviously stay away for obvious reasons the speakers are fine and you know very loud given the size of the phone but the lack of screen real estate is one of my biggest gripes with a small phone in general and even the 12 minute even though it has that edge to edge display it still is 5.4 inches it's much smaller than even the regular iphone 12 and especially the 12 pro max and speaking of the size the 12 mini also did not fit my tesla wireless charging mat from nomad so it was too small to fit on there and not being able to charge this phone like i'm able to with every other phone i've ever used was pretty disappointing but you know that's just for that specific charger it would fit fine on other wireless charging pads that don't have a downward slant to them like the one in the tesla does but still that was one of the few gripes that i had with the size of the 12 mini but the phone feels awesome in the hand and especially in the pocket as well like i wear sweatpants and basketball shorts a lot around the house and having a phone in there that doesn't always swing around like crazy and hit walls is really nice it's also an ideal size for women who like to put their phone in their front or back pockets and not just in their purse it is a great size for that because it won't stick out as much and it won't be as bulky in those pockets and the squared off edges are really what makes the iphone 12 mini stand out from other small phones that i've used not even just iphones it helps a lot with the grip on the phone and i never feel like the phone is going to slip out of my hands or anything like that even with a case on it you know you have that more squared off design that is just the perfect form factor this is a true one-handed phone which is something i've always loved unlike the iphone 12 pro max which is impossible for me to use with one hand all the time the 12 mini is able to be used one-handed 100 of the time for every single task you know pulling down the control center typing going up to safari like that i could do it all with one hand which i could not do on something like the iphone 12 pro max and it's not like i have small hands either i have you know average sized hands here's how the mini fits in my hand so it is small you know for my hands but just being able to use you know one-handed gestures all the time not having to use another hand is very very convenient if you look closely you'll see that i have a screen protector on my iphone 12 mini now and that is due to my first mini getting a few scratches on the screen from really not much use at all so even though we have the new ceramic shield on the glass of the iphone 12 this year which adds four times better drop durability that does not seem to defend against scratches any better than previous iphones so don't expect you know this thing to be like invincible to scratches because it is definitely not but the brightness and the overall quality of this oled display is just simply awesome it has the highest pixel density of any iphone at 476 pixels per inch which is just super impressive again for the small form factor it is awesome now obviously it doesn't serve up as much space which is why it has the higher pixel density but still it's impressive to have an oled display on such a small device now when it comes to the cameras this was the first situation where i was out and about and i wished that i had the iphone 12 pro or pro max with me instead and that's mainly for two reasons so number one is the 2x optical zoom so i did not realize how much i used that optical zoom until i was not able to use it with the 12 mini now zooming into pictures still looks okay but it looks much worse than the pros with their optical zoom in now of course if we tap that one x we do go out to 0.5 x and that is thanks to the ultra wide camera inside of the 12 mini and you know i do wish that we had a telephoto on here because i do use the ultra wide but i find myself using telephoto a lot more than ultra wide just because the ultrawide camera sometimes makes the image look you know like rounded and it makes it have a weird effect on it so i do really miss the telephoto lens on the 12 mini i really wish that we had all three cameras but of course you have to have some compromise with the smaller and cheaper phone the mini still takes awesome stills and videos since it has the same dual camera setup as the iphone 12 and basically all of the important features that even the pros have like smart hdr3 we have deep fusion we have night mode we have portrait lighting and we have dolby vision hdr video and up to 4k 30fps but the number two reason that i wished that i had the iphone 12 pro with me instead of the 12 mini was because i did notice a distinct difference in low light still and video quality compared to that 12 pro and of course especially the 12 pro max and the same goes with portrait shots those turned out noticeably better on the 12 pro and pro max but still for what you pay for the mini you're getting a great camera especially for being on such a small body now another factor you're going to have to consider with the 12 mini is that the battery life is not going to last as long as any other iphone 12 now with the iphone 12 12 pro and 12 pro max i'm able to get through most of the day without charging my phone usually all day without charging my phone even one time but with the mini i do have to charge my phone at least one time throughout the day otherwise it would die so you know let me make sure one thing is clear though the battery life on the iphone 12 mini is extremely impressive given its size if you watched my battery test video it got very close to outlasting the iphone 10rs battery at a significantly smaller size so what apple has done with the a14 bionic chip inside is crazy not just in terms of performance but also in the efficiency so i noticed that the efficiency was you know the best on the 12 mini because of its small battery and its small size the fact that it still you know gets you through most of the day really is tremendous and really impressive for such a small form factor and also one thing you'll notice after using the mini for a while is that you tend to not even try to watch videos or game on it as often as you do on bigger phones it's like a psychological thing it just makes you want to use the phone for what you should be using a phone for for texting for calling for face timing and browsing social media or you know going through your emails or browsing the web things like that and you know maybe that's just because i have an ipad but i'd be willing to bet that you will notice a similar pattern when you use the iphone 12 mini you just don't gravitate towards gaming or you know media watching because of the screen size and that in turn will also save some battery life in the long run now performance is an area that you would expect to improve every year with apple's a series chips and nothing has changed with the a14 bionic this year it's extremely powerful and efficient and i actually ran a speed test between the 12 mini and the 2020 iphone se the two smallest iphones that apple currently sells and the mini took the win in that test pretty easily and it's also a huge bonus that we get four gigabytes of ram on this small phone we only got three gigabytes of ram on the se so applications will stay open longer in the background compared to what you might be used to on older phones or even the se so that's always a plus and gaming like i said is not necessarily the best experience and that's mainly just due to the screen real estate but the mini can handle anything you throw at it so if you play call of duty mobile pubg any game like that it's going to be able to handle it well it's just going to be harder to compete because you're on such a smaller screen compared to other people especially if you're playing something like call of duty or pub g so at the end of the day if you want a true one-handed phone that feels like the old school iphones but with current gen specs an incredible display and an awesome camera the iphone 12 mini is an easy choice and a worthy upgrade from any older iphone even the iphone 11 series as long as you don't mind losing that telephoto camera and some battery life i say the 12 mini is definitely worth the 779 dollar price tag and i say 779 because i do recommend going for the 128 gigabyte variant over the 64 gigabyte variants now as for me personally i will not be using the iphone 12 mini as my daily phone simply due to the fact that i prefer the size of the iphone 12 and the iphone 12 pro and i do also need that telephoto lens and the lidar scanner that the 12 pro offers so if it wasn't for that and especially for the size if i preferred the size of the iphone 12 mini like if i had smaller hands i would very likely be using this every day as my main phone for the next year until the iphone 13 came out that is really saying something because i really love the 12 million i think it is a great value so you know and battery life to me also is not as big of a deal since i'm always around chargers so that's why the size of the phone and the cameras are going to be the main factors that carry the most weight when making a decision but there you have it guys those are my thoughts on the iphone 12 mini after a few weeks of daily usage if you guys enjoyed this video i would appreciate if you gave it a thumbs up and of course make sure you subscribe for a lot more iphone reviews and comparisons but anyways guys thanks again for watching and i'll see you soon youi've been using the iphone 12 mini for a few weeks now and i just need to get one thing out of the way immediately this phone is not as small as you would think now my first thought when the phone was announced was that it would just be way too small and that i would never be able to use it for a full day but here we are three weeks later and i have some thoughts to share what's up guys my name is brandon and this is my review on the iphone 12 mini so first off we have to address the elephant in the room yes the iphone 12 mini is small it has a 5.4 inch display and weighs just 135 grams with those aluminum edges and the glass front and back it is small but again to my surprise it is not as small as i originally expected and that's due to this edge to edge display because when you think of small phones you know at least my mind immediately goes to the iphone 5s or the iphone se even from earlier this year but those phones have massive bezels and that's what makes the screen seem extremely small and that's where the iphone 12 mini is different it's not small because it doesn't have those bezels it's a small form factor with a big screen on it now yes typing on the mini after using the iphone 12 and 12 pro max did take some adjusting but it was not near as bad as it was on the iphone 5s or the iphone se i really always had trouble on those keyboards and typing would just drive me crazy that was one of the main things i did not like about these smaller form factor iphones of the past but that's just not the case with the iphone 12 mini now i have made mistakes like in snapchat this is a weird example but in snapchat i would go to backspace and i would accidentally hit the send button twice because i was trying to backspace just because i was not familiar with the keyboard layout it was smaller than i was used to but aside from that you know i don't really make too many mistakes on the keyboard and it's not as bad as i thought it would be now if you're trying to game on the 12 mini or use it as your main source of media consumption like watching youtube videos or netflix i would obviously stay away for obvious reasons the speakers are fine and you know very loud given the size of the phone but the lack of screen real estate is one of my biggest gripes with a small phone in general and even the 12 minute even though it has that edge to edge display it still is 5.4 inches it's much smaller than even the regular iphone 12 and especially the 12 pro max and speaking of the size the 12 mini also did not fit my tesla wireless charging mat from nomad so it was too small to fit on there and not being able to charge this phone like i'm able to with every other phone i've ever used was pretty disappointing but you know that's just for that specific charger it would fit fine on other wireless charging pads that don't have a downward slant to them like the one in the tesla does but still that was one of the few gripes that i had with the size of the 12 mini but the phone feels awesome in the hand and especially in the pocket as well like i wear sweatpants and basketball shorts a lot around the house and having a phone in there that doesn't always swing around like crazy and hit walls is really nice it's also an ideal size for women who like to put their phone in their front or back pockets and not just in their purse it is a great size for that because it won't stick out as much and it won't be as bulky in those pockets and the squared off edges are really what makes the iphone 12 mini stand out from other small phones that i've used not even just iphones it helps a lot with the grip on the phone and i never feel like the phone is going to slip out of my hands or anything like that even with a case on it you know you have that more squared off design that is just the perfect form factor this is a true one-handed phone which is something i've always loved unlike the iphone 12 pro max which is impossible for me to use with one hand all the time the 12 mini is able to be used one-handed 100 of the time for every single task you know pulling down the control center typing going up to safari like that i could do it all with one hand which i could not do on something like the iphone 12 pro max and it's not like i have small hands either i have you know average sized hands here's how the mini fits in my hand so it is small you know for my hands but just being able to use you know one-handed gestures all the time not having to use another hand is very very convenient if you look closely you'll see that i have a screen protector on my iphone 12 mini now and that is due to my first mini getting a few scratches on the screen from really not much use at all so even though we have the new ceramic shield on the glass of the iphone 12 this year which adds four times better drop durability that does not seem to defend against scratches any better than previous iphones so don't expect you know this thing to be like invincible to scratches because it is definitely not but the brightness and the overall quality of this oled display is just simply awesome it has the highest pixel density of any iphone at 476 pixels per inch which is just super impressive again for the small form factor it is awesome now obviously it doesn't serve up as much space which is why it has the higher pixel density but still it's impressive to have an oled display on such a small device now when it comes to the cameras this was the first situation where i was out and about and i wished that i had the iphone 12 pro or pro max with me instead and that's mainly for two reasons so number one is the 2x optical zoom so i did not realize how much i used that optical zoom until i was not able to use it with the 12 mini now zooming into pictures still looks okay but it looks much worse than the pros with their optical zoom in now of course if we tap that one x we do go out to 0.5 x and that is thanks to the ultra wide camera inside of the 12 mini and you know i do wish that we had a telephoto on here because i do use the ultra wide but i find myself using telephoto a lot more than ultra wide just because the ultrawide camera sometimes makes the image look you know like rounded and it makes it have a weird effect on it so i do really miss the telephoto lens on the 12 mini i really wish that we had all three cameras but of course you have to have some compromise with the smaller and cheaper phone the mini still takes awesome stills and videos since it has the same dual camera setup as the iphone 12 and basically all of the important features that even the pros have like smart hdr3 we have deep fusion we have night mode we have portrait lighting and we have dolby vision hdr video and up to 4k 30fps but the number two reason that i wished that i had the iphone 12 pro with me instead of the 12 mini was because i did notice a distinct difference in low light still and video quality compared to that 12 pro and of course especially the 12 pro max and the same goes with portrait shots those turned out noticeably better on the 12 pro and pro max but still for what you pay for the mini you're getting a great camera especially for being on such a small body now another factor you're going to have to consider with the 12 mini is that the battery life is not going to last as long as any other iphone 12 now with the iphone 12 12 pro and 12 pro max i'm able to get through most of the day without charging my phone usually all day without charging my phone even one time but with the mini i do have to charge my phone at least one time throughout the day otherwise it would die so you know let me make sure one thing is clear though the battery life on the iphone 12 mini is extremely impressive given its size if you watched my battery test video it got very close to outlasting the iphone 10rs battery at a significantly smaller size so what apple has done with the a14 bionic chip inside is crazy not just in terms of performance but also in the efficiency so i noticed that the efficiency was you know the best on the 12 mini because of its small battery and its small size the fact that it still you know gets you through most of the day really is tremendous and really impressive for such a small form factor and also one thing you'll notice after using the mini for a while is that you tend to not even try to watch videos or game on it as often as you do on bigger phones it's like a psychological thing it just makes you want to use the phone for what you should be using a phone for for texting for calling for face timing and browsing social media or you know going through your emails or browsing the web things like that and you know maybe that's just because i have an ipad but i'd be willing to bet that you will notice a similar pattern when you use the iphone 12 mini you just don't gravitate towards gaming or you know media watching because of the screen size and that in turn will also save some battery life in the long run now performance is an area that you would expect to improve every year with apple's a series chips and nothing has changed with the a14 bionic this year it's extremely powerful and efficient and i actually ran a speed test between the 12 mini and the 2020 iphone se the two smallest iphones that apple currently sells and the mini took the win in that test pretty easily and it's also a huge bonus that we get four gigabytes of ram on this small phone we only got three gigabytes of ram on the se so applications will stay open longer in the background compared to what you might be used to on older phones or even the se so that's always a plus and gaming like i said is not necessarily the best experience and that's mainly just due to the screen real estate but the mini can handle anything you throw at it so if you play call of duty mobile pubg any game like that it's going to be able to handle it well it's just going to be harder to compete because you're on such a smaller screen compared to other people especially if you're playing something like call of duty or pub g so at the end of the day if you want a true one-handed phone that feels like the old school iphones but with current gen specs an incredible display and an awesome camera the iphone 12 mini is an easy choice and a worthy upgrade from any older iphone even the iphone 11 series as long as you don't mind losing that telephoto camera and some battery life i say the 12 mini is definitely worth the 779 dollar price tag and i say 779 because i do recommend going for the 128 gigabyte variant over the 64 gigabyte variants now as for me personally i will not be using the iphone 12 mini as my daily phone simply due to the fact that i prefer the size of the iphone 12 and the iphone 12 pro and i do also need that telephoto lens and the lidar scanner that the 12 pro offers so if it wasn't for that and especially for the size if i preferred the size of the iphone 12 mini like if i had smaller hands i would very likely be using this every day as my main phone for the next year until the iphone 13 came out that is really saying something because i really love the 12 million i think it is a great value so you know and battery life to me also is not as big of a deal since i'm always around chargers so that's why the size of the phone and the cameras are going to be the main factors that carry the most weight when making a decision but there you have it guys those are my thoughts on the iphone 12 mini after a few weeks of daily usage if you guys enjoyed this video i would appreciate if you gave it a thumbs up and of course make sure you subscribe for a lot more iphone reviews and comparisons but anyways guys thanks again for watching and i'll see you soon you\n"