Is 12 mini same size as 13 mini

Ever since the introduction of phablets (a portmanteau of phone and tablet), mobile phones have progressively grown in size. However, not everyone wants to tote around a handset only slightly smaller than an iPad mini. With the iPad mini’s screen measuring in at 8.3 inches and the iPhone 13 Pro Max at a hulking 6.7 inches, many phones are humongous. Thankfully, the iPhone mini offers a pocket-friendly solution.

Sporting a more powerful processor, improved camera, and higher storage options, the iPhone 13 mini improves upon the 12 mini in almost every area. But which should you get: the iPhone 13 mini or 12 mini? Find out in our comprehensive iPhone 13 mini vs. iPhone 12 mini comparison to see which is the best iPhone for you.

iPhone 13 mini vs. iPhone 12 mini: Specs

iPhone 13 mini vs. iPhone 12 mini at a glance

In an age where phone screens seem to be consistently expanding, the iPhone 13 mini remains small. Like its predecessor, the 12 mini, Apple’s 13 mini retains the same 5.4-inch display for a palm-friendly form factor. In our review, we praised the iPhone 12 mini for proving that bigger doesn't always mean better.

While the 13 series doesn’t outwardly deviate much from the 12, inside it’s a different matter. The iPhone 13 mini flaunts a slew of incremental improvements. You’ll find a more powerful processor, a significantly brighter screen, and higher storage tiers. Overall, the iPhone 13 mini brings big improvements in a small package.

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iPhone 13 mini 128GB

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~ Last Updated 12/28/2022

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iPhone 13 mini vs. iPhone 12 mini: Pricing

Apple’s iPhone 13 mini retails for $699. With the launch of the 13 lineup, the entire iPhone 12 roster dropped in price. An iPhone 12 mini sets you back $599. The $100 difference between the two devices is fairly negligible. Still, 12 mini is a great value at $599. 

• iPhone 12 mini: $599
• iPhone 13 mini: $699

We recommend splurging for the 13 mini if you’ve got the cash. For a slight price hike, you’ll get a better device with a more robust processor, enhanced camera, and bolstered 5G connectivity. But if you want to save, it’s tough to beat the 12 mini.

Design and Build

The iPhone 13 mini and the 12 mini both sport 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR OLED screens. The lightweight 12 mini weighs a bit less than the 13 mini. Regardless, the 13 mini won’t make your wrist hurt even after hours of talking, texting, Instagramming, or gaming.

• iPhone 12 mini: 5.18 inches x 2.53 inches; 0.29 inches (depth)
• iPhone 13 mini: 5.18 inches x 2.53 inches; 0.3 inches (depth)

The 12 and 13 mini share dimensions of 5.18 inches x 2.53 inches. In other words, the physical size doesn’t change much at all. Apple fans will love the 13 mini’s small stature which slides into pockets and fits into hands with ease. 

Color options for the iPhone 12 mini include black, white, (PRODUCT)RED, green, blue, and purple. The 13 mini is available in starlight, midnight, blue, pink, and (PRODUCT)RED.

You’ll find an IP68 water resistance rating that can survive submersion in up to six meters of water for 30 minutes. Apple’s iPhone 12 and 13 mini share similar construction that consists of a ceramic shield in front, glass back, and aluminum accents. Stylish and sturdy, the iPhone 12 and 13 mini don’t sacrifice form or function.

Display

Although the iPhone 13 mini’s screen size and resolution remain unchanged, it gets a significant boost to brightness. Like the 12 mini, you’ll find a 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR OLED panel with a 2340 x 1080 resolution. However, there’s almost a 50% increase in brightness (measured in nits). 

• iPhone 12 mini:
  • 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR OLED (2340 x 1080)
  • 625 nits max brightness (SDR), 1200 nits (HDR)
• iPhone 13 mini:
  • 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR OLED (2340 x 1080)
  • 800 nits max brightness (SDR), 1200 nits (HDR)

Additionally, color accuracy is fantastic. When juxtaposed with many flagship phones, including Samsung’s Galaxy S21, the 13 mini wins. Despite the unchanged screen size and resolution, excellent color reproduction and higher brightness give your videos, photos, and games even more color pop when viewing them. 

Certain screen elements remain unchanged. Both panels include HDR capabilities, a wide color gamut, a high contrast ratio for excellent detail, and a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. Although the 12 mini’s display isn’t bad, the 13 mini’s boosted brightness and excellent color accuracy make the 12 mini look dull by comparison. 

Whether you’re streaming one of your favorite TV shows on Netflix, showing off pictures of your fur babies, or playing Call of Duty: Mobile, the 13 mini makes your content look lush and vibrant. 

iPhone 13 mini vs. 12 mini: Cameras

Apple consistently graces its iPhones with some of the best phone cameras on the market. The iPhone 12 and 13 mini tout dual-camera arrays consisting of 12MP wide and ultra-wide shooters. Whether you select the cutting-edge 13 mini or last-gen 12 mini, you’ll enjoy a 2x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom.

• iPhone 12 mini:
  • Wide: 12MP, ƒ/1.6 aperture
  • Ultra-wide: 12MP, ƒ/2.4 aperture, 120-degree field-of-view (FoV)
• iPhone 13 mini:
  • Wide: 12MP, ƒ/1.6 aperture
  • Ultra-wide: 12MP, ƒ/2.4 aperture, 120-degree field-of-view (FoV)

Many features come standard on the iPhone 12 and 13 mini. Either phone lets you enjoy a portrait mode with advanced bokeh functionality and depth control, lighting effects such as “Natural” or “Studio,” up to 63MP panorama, night mode, and other goodies. 

However, the iPhone 13 mini ups the ante to HDR-4 over the 12 mini’s HDR-3—this affords the same image stabilization as the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Additionally, Apple’s iPhone 13 series offers the biggest-ever sensor in any iPhone to date, letting in up to 47% more light. All told, the iPhone 13 mini provides sharper pictures and better low-light photography. You can even scan documents using your iPhone's camera.

Video

On the video side, the iPhone 13 mini is a superior device. Whereas the iPhone 12 mini lets you capture HDR video in Dolby Vision at up to 4K resolutions at 30 frames per second (FPS), the 13 mini yields 4K 60 FPS Dolby Vision recordings. Apple also graces its 13 mini with Cinematic Mode for shooting videos with a shallow depth of field at 1080p 30 FPS, which benefits landscape photography by putting faraway objects into focus. 

iPhone 13 mini vs. 12 mini: Processor

While the iPhone 13 mini makes a bevy of gradual improvements over the 12 mini, its processor showcases the 13 lineup's biggest growth. Under the hood, the 13 mini packs Apple’s groundbreaking A15 Bionic processor. The A15 Bionic chip boasts a six-core CPU with two high-performance and four efficiency cores. It’s paired with a four-core GPU and a 16-core neural engine. 

• iPhone 12 mini: A14 Bionic chip
• iPhone 13 mini: A15 Bionic chip

While the A14 Bionic chip flaunts a similar configuration with a hexa-core CPU, quad-core GPU, and 16-core neural engine, the A15 offers vastly greater performance. The neural engine of the A15 is capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second (TOPs). 

Benchmarks prove that the A15 Bionic chip is indeed marginally faster than the A14. However, this modest increase in horsepower unlocks advanced capabilities. Notably, the A15 lets you shoot video in Cinematic Mode, offers better on-device artificial intelligence (AI), and improves picture quality. 

With its stronger A15 chip, the iPhone 13 mini handles machine learning (ML) better than the A14-equipped 12 series. Some of the real-world benefits you’ll see include more accurate voice recognition for speech-to-text and Siri. Overall, the iPhone 13 mini’s A15 Bionic chip brings significant improvements over the 12 mini.

iPhone 13 mini vs. 12 mini: Battery Life

Despite its blisteringly fast processor, the iPhone 13 mini’s battery life doesn’t take a hit. In fact, you’ll find a greater battery capacity. The iPhone 13 mini yields 17 hours of video playback, 13 hours of streaming video playback, and 55 hours of audio playback. By comparison, the iPhone 12 mini touts 15 hours of video playback, 10 hours of streamed video playback, and 50 hours of audio playback. The iPhone 13 mini has a larger battery capacity, so you can go longer between recharges.

iPhone 13 mini vs. 12 mini: Storage Capacity

The base iPhone 12 mini comes with 64GB of onboard storage with 128GB and 256GB tiers. For its 13 series, Apple doubles the starting storage capacity to 128GB, and offers 256GB and 512GB options. The added storage space is a welcome change that lets you store your pictures, videos, music, apps, and games worry-free.

iPhone 13 mini vs. 12 mini: Connectivity

In terms of connectivity, the Apple iPhone 13 mini doesn’t deviate much from the 12 series. You’ll find a Lightning connector (sorry, USB-C fans), stereo speakers, a built-in microphone, volume rocker, ring/silence button, and a side button. You’ll also get Wi-Fi 6 (but no Wi-Fi 6E), Bluetooth 5.0, and 5G. 

A revamped antenna lets the iPhone 13 mini support over 200 carriers, which should be beneficial for folks in rural areas or frequent travelers. Moreover, additional bands lend access to cutting-edge 5G speeds. If you value 5G, the 13 mini is the way to go.

iPhone 13 mini vs. iPhone 12 mini: Verdict

When comparing the iPhone 12 mini vs. iPhone 13 mini, both are great devices. However, the iPhone 13 mini is an overall better phone. You’ll get a faster processor, improved camera, higher storage capacity, and brighter screen. Best of all, the Apple iPhone 13 mini clocks in at the same introductory price that the iPhone 12 launched with, despite hosting a bevy of upgrades. 

Still, the 12 mini is a value-priced choice if you want to save a bit of cash, especially since Apple dropped its base price since launch. Just because the 13 mini improves in every area, that doesn’t make the 12 series a poor phone—the 13 mini is simply stronger. Going from the 12 mini to the 13 mini won’t give performance gains comparable to, say, the leap from an older iPhone model like the XS to the iPhone 13. 

Ultimately, we recommend the 13 mini over the 12 mini. For owners of aging iOS devices such as the iPhone XS and earlier, the 13 mini is the way to go. 

iPhone 13 mini vs. 12 mini: FAQs

What is the difference between the iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 12 mini?

Although the outward appearance of the iPhone 13 mini doesn’t deviate much from the 12 mini, it’s a vastly improved device. Incremental improvements combine for a major uptick in quality of life. You’ll find a significantly brighter screen, a much better camera, longer battery life, a faster processor in the A15 Bionic chip, and superior 5G support.

Should I get the Apple iPhone 13 mini?

If you’re in the market for a new phone, the iPhone 13 mini is an attractive device. For anyone switching from Android, or upgrading from an iPhone XS or older, the 13 mini is our recommendation for a smaller iPhone that performs the same as a standard iPhone 13. If you’ve got an iPhone 12 model, it’s probably not worth upgrading unless you need to have the latest and greatest hardware.

Are the iPhone 13 mini and 12 mini the same size?

The iPhone 13 mini outperforms the 12 mini in a lot of ways, but remains roughly the same size. Both devices feature 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR displays with dimensions of 5.18 inches x 2.53 inches. The 12 mini has a depth of 0.29 inches, whereas the 13 mini is 0.3 inches. And the 13 mini is slightly heavier though not noticeably so.

What colors does the iPhone 13 mini come in?

You can select the iPhone 13 mini in starlight, midnight, blue, pink, and (PRODUCT)RED. iPhone 12 mini color options include black, white, (PRODUCT)RED, green, blue, and purple.

How much does the iPhone mini cost?

iPhone mini pricing depends on the specific storage options you choose. The iPhone 12 mini starts at $599 for the 64GB tier. From there, it goes up to $649 for the 128GB model and $749 for the 256GB variant. The 13 mini will set you back $699 for the 128GB model, $799 for 256GB of storage space, and $999 for the maxed out 512GB option. 

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