My plan was to hold onto my 13 mini until it literally fell apart. I bought it as a replacement to my 12 mini the day the 14 was announced without a mini option.
However, I couldn’t take the bad battery life. The 13 seemed worse than the 12, even though on paper it was supposed to be better. I ended up getting a new phone when the 16 came out. I had also been wanting a telephoto lens, so I got the triple camera system with the 16 Pro. I really wish I could get this in the package of a mini.
I tried to see the bad battery life as a positive, and that’s all well and good while at home, but becomes a real problem when leaving the house and needing your phone for things like trains and taxis to get around. Having to carry an extra battery just incase, so you can get home isn’t a feature. Though to be fair, on my last trip with the 16 Pro I also carried an extra battery with me, because the 16 Pro will randomly burn through 80% of my battery for seemingly no reason some days. I can’t trust it.
I'd recommend the iPhone 13 Mini because it will give you at least another year of software support and is generally the same phone. The battery on both of these phones are abysmally small so a degraded battery will provide pain.
A warning about the cases: Since Apple has discontinued manufacturer of the phone, they also stopped accessory manufacturing. The chinese have swooped in and they are producing very convincing fakes passed off as authentic. I recently purchased what I thought was a true authentic Apple Silicone case off eBay only to discover weak magsafe performance(the phone kept falling off my car mount).
I discovered to my shock that it was a fake. The packing was nearly identical to real OEM (purchased from Target) and it was only after looking at it with a magnifying glass I discovered packaging print quality issues compared to OEM.
The thing that initially revealed that it was a fake was magnet paper showing a clear difference in magnet design.
FAKE: https://i.imgur.com/9gVy3ks.png (sorry I slightly cropped this image to cover up blurry reflection but the full magnet is showing)
The real is a stronger magnet and designed differently.
Also note: The fake case does the sae Apple "animation" on attachment that a real case does because they have likely cloned the NFC tag from the authentic case.
I'm holding onto my 13 Mini for dear life and have Applecare+ on it so I can get any hardware fixed when needed. This is me just really committing to this mini design cost be damned.
This way I get a new OEM battery every other year or so and I can thrash it as much as I want.
Screen replacements are even wonderful for me but I had to learn the hard way: Upon buying the phone, I got a belkin screen protector and it goes up to the edge of the screen but leaves a tiny gap. Well the phone fell on the ground and hit that tiny gap causing a microcrack in the corner of the screen where the protector wasn't protecting. :/
On replacing the screen, i'm like why bother with the screen protectors when a brand new calibrated OLED screen is only 29$ with my plan.
I wanted badly to keep my 12, but it was too slow. I missed many things because the camera wouldn’t open most of the time. I changed the battery but it didn’t help. I had plenty of free storage. I almost wonder if it was a dud, I never observed the same on other of the same phone. I got the 17 and it’s been a great upgrade.
I just moved away from iPhones because the battery life on every single one I've owned is abysmal. I'm a week into a phone with an absolutely massive battery and it can actually get me through a whole day which no iPhone ever has.
Web searches suggest the availability nowadays is mostly fixed battery instances for AUD $300 or more. Not units with a dying battery. Maybe this is something you buy from a man in the pub or a car boot sale.
Hint: eBay, with a price filter is your friend. The cheap ones are out there.
Yup that's what I'm using too, and I actually know a few ppl using the same. Unless Apple changes things, it will probably be the last iPhone I buy, I guess. We shall see...
I agree. It's the perfect size and form factor. I used a 12 mini until it finally died earlier this year and now i use a refurbished 13 mini. Works perfectly.
You aren't saving the planet by purchasing a product from Apple. They are the kings of planned obsolescence and also have release cycles and marketing to make their customers over-consume.
Marketing that seems to have worked with you. I'm wondering if you even did any research at all.
Instead of using a garbage phone from Apple, go with better alternatives that are made to last, can be fixed, is more environmental safe, can be fixed etc.
The latest version of iOS supports phones from 2019 and Apple releases security patches for phones older than that. Which Android phone from 2019 is getting updates? Which phone before that is getting security patches?
My plan was to hold onto my 13 mini until it literally fell apart. I bought it as a replacement to my 12 mini the day the 14 was announced without a mini option.
However, I couldn’t take the bad battery life. The 13 seemed worse than the 12, even though on paper it was supposed to be better. I ended up getting a new phone when the 16 came out. I had also been wanting a telephoto lens, so I got the triple camera system with the 16 Pro. I really wish I could get this in the package of a mini.
I tried to see the bad battery life as a positive, and that’s all well and good while at home, but becomes a real problem when leaving the house and needing your phone for things like trains and taxis to get around. Having to carry an extra battery just incase, so you can get home isn’t a feature. Though to be fair, on my last trip with the 16 Pro I also carried an extra battery with me, because the 16 Pro will randomly burn through 80% of my battery for seemingly no reason some days. I can’t trust it.
I'd recommend the iPhone 13 Mini because it will give you at least another year of software support and is generally the same phone. The battery on both of these phones are abysmally small so a degraded battery will provide pain.
A warning about the cases: Since Apple has discontinued manufacturer of the phone, they also stopped accessory manufacturing. The chinese have swooped in and they are producing very convincing fakes passed off as authentic. I recently purchased what I thought was a true authentic Apple Silicone case off eBay only to discover weak magsafe performance(the phone kept falling off my car mount).
I discovered to my shock that it was a fake. The packing was nearly identical to real OEM (purchased from Target) and it was only after looking at it with a magnifying glass I discovered packaging print quality issues compared to OEM.
The thing that initially revealed that it was a fake was magnet paper showing a clear difference in magnet design.
FAKE: https://i.imgur.com/9gVy3ks.png (sorry I slightly cropped this image to cover up blurry reflection but the full magnet is showing)
REAL: https://i.imgur.com/0m5AopW.png
The real is a stronger magnet and designed differently.
Also note: The fake case does the sae Apple "animation" on attachment that a real case does because they have likely cloned the NFC tag from the authentic case.
I'm holding onto my 13 Mini for dear life and have Applecare+ on it so I can get any hardware fixed when needed. This is me just really committing to this mini design cost be damned.
This way I get a new OEM battery every other year or so and I can thrash it as much as I want.
Screen replacements are even wonderful for me but I had to learn the hard way: Upon buying the phone, I got a belkin screen protector and it goes up to the edge of the screen but leaves a tiny gap. Well the phone fell on the ground and hit that tiny gap causing a microcrack in the corner of the screen where the protector wasn't protecting. :/
On replacing the screen, i'm like why bother with the screen protectors when a brand new calibrated OLED screen is only 29$ with my plan.
What is the smallest one with USB-C? It's gotten hard to find a friend to borrow a charge from these days with the lightning port.
It's not exactly the most elegant solution, but you can buy USB-C to Lightning adapters in bulk and shove one in your wallet.
Here's one much like the ones I bought: https://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Adapter-Certified-Charging-...
I bought 10 of them on AliExpress for a similar price.
I feel your pain. Not perfect but I have those 3-in-1 cables that split into usb-c/lightning/micro-usb
Might as well get the iPhone 17. It's bigger, but not that much. Also a lot of apps aren't designed with iPhone minis in mind.
I have been using a iPhone mini 12 for 3 years now and love it, but I won't keep it simply because it's getting too old and underpowered.
I wanted badly to keep my 12, but it was too slow. I missed many things because the camera wouldn’t open most of the time. I changed the battery but it didn’t help. I had plenty of free storage. I almost wonder if it was a dud, I never observed the same on other of the same phone. I got the 17 and it’s been a great upgrade.
What are you running that feels underpowered on a mini 12?
Nothing in particular, but apps in general take slightly longer to open and close. The UI sometimes freezes for a second when doing certain actions.
I just moved away from iPhones because the battery life on every single one I've owned is abysmal. I'm a week into a phone with an absolutely massive battery and it can actually get me through a whole day which no iPhone ever has.
I have a 12 mini. I am writing this more than 13 hours after taking it off the charger and have 44% battery.
YMMV
Web searches suggest the availability nowadays is mostly fixed battery instances for AUD $300 or more. Not units with a dying battery. Maybe this is something you buy from a man in the pub or a car boot sale.
Hint: eBay, with a price filter is your friend. The cheap ones are out there.
I got an iphone SE Third Generation.
Recent model. Touch ID (last one?) and can't run Apple Intelligence. The latter was a deliberate choice.
(Please don't trample people on the way to buy one!)
Fits the old iphone 8 cases.
Yup that's what I'm using too, and I actually know a few ppl using the same. Unless Apple changes things, it will probably be the last iPhone I buy, I guess. We shall see...
I have the same phone. I will be upgrading to a larger one when it expires. Too many apps assume you have a bigger screen.
Long ago, I contemplated carrying an iPad instead, using some fold down chest gizmo, like a secretary in furniture (not people).
Still not "there yet"
Small type doesn't bother me, since I am very nearsighted and just take my glasses off to read the screen at my own "infinite" focal point.
I agree. It's the perfect size and form factor. I used a 12 mini until it finally died earlier this year and now i use a refurbished 13 mini. Works perfectly.
Still using my 12 mini (bought it refurbished), it works great. I’ll buy another one when mine breaks, maybe even a 13 mini
Had a used 13 Mini for about a year now, very pleased and the battery is just fine.
You aren't saving the planet by purchasing a product from Apple. They are the kings of planned obsolescence and also have release cycles and marketing to make their customers over-consume.
Marketing that seems to have worked with you. I'm wondering if you even did any research at all.
Instead of using a garbage phone from Apple, go with better alternatives that are made to last, can be fixed, is more environmental safe, can be fixed etc.
The latest version of iOS supports phones from 2019 and Apple releases security patches for phones older than that. Which Android phone from 2019 is getting updates? Which phone before that is getting security patches?