The iPhone 13 Mini: A Battery Life Challenge

One of the top concerns with the iPhone 13 Mini is its battery life, which has the smallest battery capacity among all the iPhones in the lineup. The regular iPhone 13 has a much larger battery capacity at just under 3,300 milliampere-hours (mAh), while the mini model has a smaller 2,406 mAh battery. However, the mini's smaller 5.4-inch display is expected to consume less power than the larger 6.1-inch display on the iPhone 13.

Phone Test

In the phone test, each device was placed within equal distance of the mini cell tower in the lab. After 60 minutes, the iPhone 13 Mini actually performed better, dropping by just two points compared to the regular iPhone 13's three-point drop. This is a surprising result, given that the 13 Mini has the smaller battery capacity. However, iPhones have a tendency to over-report their battery percentages early on, and it's possible that this is what happened in the phone test. We'll continue to monitor the performance of both devices.

Messaging Test

In the messaging test, after an hour of texting back and forth, the regular iPhone 13 performed better than the mini model, with a tie between the two devices. However, as expected, the larger battery capacity of the regular iPhone 13 gave it an advantage in this test. We'll continue to monitor the performance of both devices.

Email Test

In the email test, which is similar to last year's test where the display was the only significant factor in draining the battery, the smaller screen on the iPhone 13 Mini helped make up for its smaller battery. The mini model dropped by an equal eight percentage points as the regular iPhone 13. This suggests that the smaller screen has a positive impact on the device's battery life.

Browser Test

In the browser test, where both devices were tasked with loading up the same set of websites and one hour later, the larger battery capacity of the regular iPhone 13 gave it an advantage. The mini model dropped by 11 points compared to the regular iPhone 13's nine-point drop. This highlights the impact that the A15 Bionic chip has on battery life.

Instagram Test

In the Instagram test, where both devices were simply scrolling through the home feed as they would in real life, after one hour, the regular iPhone 13 performed better than the mini model, allowing it to pull four points ahead. This suggests that the larger screen and battery capacity of the regular iPhone 13 are giving it an advantage in this test.

Standby Test

In the standby test, where both devices were turned off for the entire 16 hours, the regular iPhone 13 performed better than the mini model, with a four-point difference between the two devices. This highlights the impact that screen usage has on battery life.

YouTube Test

In the YouTube test, where both devices played back videos and had their speakers calibrated to the same decibel counts, after one hour, the regular iPhone 13 continued its lead over the mini model, with a 13-point difference between the two devices. The smaller screen and battery capacity of the mini model are still giving it an advantage in this test.

Gaming Test

In the gaming test, where both devices were playing Alto's Adventure, after one hour, the regular iPhone 13 continued its lead over the mini model, with a three-point difference between the two devices. However, as mentioned earlier, the larger battery capacity of the regular iPhone 13 gives it an advantage in this type of intense usage.

Comparing to Last Year's Model

When comparing the performance of the iPhone 13 Mini to last year's iPhone 12 Mini, we can see a huge improvement. The iPhone 12 Mini died just 40 minutes into the Maps test, while the iPhone 13 Mini still had 13 remaining, allowing it to finish the test with 10 points left. In contrast, the regular iPhone 13 performed much better, with only a three-point difference between the two devices.

Conclusion

The iPhone 13 wins by a significant margin of 17 points in this battery life challenge, giving it enough power to last an additional two hours and 25 minutes on Instagram or two hours and seven minutes on Messaging. The larger screen and battery capacity of the regular iPhone 13 are clear advantages over the smaller model, especially when performing intensive tasks like gaming or watching YouTube videos. However, as mentioned earlier, the improvement over last year's iPhone 12 Mini is a huge plus for the mini model, showing that Apple has made significant strides in improving its compact devices' battery life.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enfor anybody considering the iphone 13 mini one of the top concerns with the phone is its battery life with it having the smallest battery of the entire lineup at just 2 406 milliamp hours compared to the regular iphone 13's 327. now the mini does at least have one thing going for it in terms of battery life in its smaller 5.4 inch display which technically should consume less power than the larger 6.1 inch display on the iphone 13. but how much that smaller display will actually help offset the mini smaller battery capacity well let's find out okay we'll start things off in the phone test where each device is within equal distance of the mini cell tower that we have installed in the lab where 60 minutes into it the iphone 13 mini actually does better dropping by just two points compared to the regular 13's three-point drop this is a really surprising result given that the 13 mini has the smaller battery capacity but at the same time iphones have this tendency of over reporting on their battery percentages early on and i suspect that's what's happening here with the mini so we'll see how it does in the messaging test where after an hour of texting back and forth this time the regular iphone 13 does better with the two phones now tied as we move on to the email test so last year when we tested the iphone 12 and the 12 mini and tasks like this email test where the display was the only real significant factor in draining the battery the smaller screen on the mini kind of helped make up for its smaller battery and this year it's the same thing with the two phones dropping by an equal eight percentage points so things are looking pretty good for the mini as we head into this browser test but i doubt it's gonna last since this time it's not just the display that's a major factor but also that a15 bionic chip with both phones being tasked with loading up the same set of websites and one hour later yeah the smaller battery on the mini definitely hurt it with it dropping by 11 points compared to the 9 point drop on the regular iphone 13. here on instagram we're simply scrolling through the home feed as you would in real life we're one hour in once again the mini does worse allowing the regular iphone 13 to pull four points ahead as we move on to the standby test so in this test i expect the regular iphone 13 to do better since the screens are off for the entire 16 hours and that's exactly what we see it's a big difference with the iphone 13 pulling another four points ahead improving its total lead to 8 points and that lead is likely to only grow here in youtube where in addition to the screens being calibrated to 200 nits and playing back these videos the speakers are also calibrated to the same decibel counts which in theory should drain the smaller battery on the mini faster since it has the same workload and one hour later the mini does worse once again dropping by 13 points compared to the 10 point drop on the regular iphone 13. so not the best performance from the mini and the last few tests in a row it's now behind by double digits and after an hour of gaming in alto's adventure it doesn't get any better for the mini with it falling behind by another 3 percentage points but it's important to note here that while the 13 minis battery doesn't look the best compared to the regular iphone 13 here when you compare it to last year's iphone 12 mini it's a huge improvement where last year's iphone 12 mini died just 40 minutes into this maps test while the 13 mini still has 13 remaining enough for the mini to finish the maps test with 10 still left to go which while a big improvement over last year's 12 mini it doesn't come close to the regular iphone 13 with the 13 mini dying just 30 minutes into the spotify test while the regular iphone 13 still has a healthy 17 remaining so there you have it the iphone 13 wins by a big margin of 17 points which to put that into perspective based off the numbers from this test that's enough to last the iphone 13 up to an additional 2 hours and 25 minutes of instagram or 2 hours and 7 minutes in messaging but of course not all usage is equal with that 17 being enough for the regular iphone 13 to finish the last 30 minutes in spotify with 12 and at that 12 lasting for 42 minutes in the super intensive camera snapchat test giving it an impressive 9 hours and 42 minutes of active time compared to the 13 minis 8 hours and 30 minutes anyways that is it for me in this video thank you for watching and as always i'll see you in the very next episodefor anybody considering the iphone 13 mini one of the top concerns with the phone is its battery life with it having the smallest battery of the entire lineup at just 2 406 milliamp hours compared to the regular iphone 13's 327. now the mini does at least have one thing going for it in terms of battery life in its smaller 5.4 inch display which technically should consume less power than the larger 6.1 inch display on the iphone 13. but how much that smaller display will actually help offset the mini smaller battery capacity well let's find out okay we'll start things off in the phone test where each device is within equal distance of the mini cell tower that we have installed in the lab where 60 minutes into it the iphone 13 mini actually does better dropping by just two points compared to the regular 13's three-point drop this is a really surprising result given that the 13 mini has the smaller battery capacity but at the same time iphones have this tendency of over reporting on their battery percentages early on and i suspect that's what's happening here with the mini so we'll see how it does in the messaging test where after an hour of texting back and forth this time the regular iphone 13 does better with the two phones now tied as we move on to the email test so last year when we tested the iphone 12 and the 12 mini and tasks like this email test where the display was the only real significant factor in draining the battery the smaller screen on the mini kind of helped make up for its smaller battery and this year it's the same thing with the two phones dropping by an equal eight percentage points so things are looking pretty good for the mini as we head into this browser test but i doubt it's gonna last since this time it's not just the display that's a major factor but also that a15 bionic chip with both phones being tasked with loading up the same set of websites and one hour later yeah the smaller battery on the mini definitely hurt it with it dropping by 11 points compared to the 9 point drop on the regular iphone 13. here on instagram we're simply scrolling through the home feed as you would in real life we're one hour in once again the mini does worse allowing the regular iphone 13 to pull four points ahead as we move on to the standby test so in this test i expect the regular iphone 13 to do better since the screens are off for the entire 16 hours and that's exactly what we see it's a big difference with the iphone 13 pulling another four points ahead improving its total lead to 8 points and that lead is likely to only grow here in youtube where in addition to the screens being calibrated to 200 nits and playing back these videos the speakers are also calibrated to the same decibel counts which in theory should drain the smaller battery on the mini faster since it has the same workload and one hour later the mini does worse once again dropping by 13 points compared to the 10 point drop on the regular iphone 13. so not the best performance from the mini and the last few tests in a row it's now behind by double digits and after an hour of gaming in alto's adventure it doesn't get any better for the mini with it falling behind by another 3 percentage points but it's important to note here that while the 13 minis battery doesn't look the best compared to the regular iphone 13 here when you compare it to last year's iphone 12 mini it's a huge improvement where last year's iphone 12 mini died just 40 minutes into this maps test while the 13 mini still has 13 remaining enough for the mini to finish the maps test with 10 still left to go which while a big improvement over last year's 12 mini it doesn't come close to the regular iphone 13 with the 13 mini dying just 30 minutes into the spotify test while the regular iphone 13 still has a healthy 17 remaining so there you have it the iphone 13 wins by a big margin of 17 points which to put that into perspective based off the numbers from this test that's enough to last the iphone 13 up to an additional 2 hours and 25 minutes of instagram or 2 hours and 7 minutes in messaging but of course not all usage is equal with that 17 being enough for the regular iphone 13 to finish the last 30 minutes in spotify with 12 and at that 12 lasting for 42 minutes in the super intensive camera snapchat test giving it an impressive 9 hours and 42 minutes of active time compared to the 13 minis 8 hours and 30 minutes anyways that is it for me in this video thank you for watching and as always i'll see you in the very next episode\n"