Months later, I can say unequivocally that the iPhone 12 mini is the first phone that I have ever purchased that has not disappointed me in some way or left me longing for something. Coming from an 11 Pro, the overall design, size, weight and feature set are brilliant.
@pimoore A great question! I’ve heard that people think the battery life isn’t as good, although I disagree. I never get close to running out of battery before going to bed at around 11 o’clock each night. It lasts beautifully.
Looking at my weekly ScreenTime statistics, I hit an average of two hours of phone use each day, predominantly using messaging apps, taking photos and videos and listening to music and podcasts. For further context, this phone usage is in addition to time spent working from home on a Mac and iPad. I have auto-brightness on and occasionally adjust it manually in direct sunlight.
I would postulate that those who complain about poor battery life are people who watch more videos or play games, or to say perhaps judgementally, spend an excessive amount of time on their phones.
It’s all subjective, however to say that the battery life is ‘poor’ as a blanket statement is false.
@martinfeld I second all of your statements as I am super happy with my iPhone Mini. Also, this is coming from someone who switched from and Android as I felt this would be the phone to draw me back in… and it has 😁
@AlanGMarz No worries, feel free to disagree! 😀 We probably just use our phones very differently. I say that simply because other than an occasional USB connection in the car, which supplies power briefly, I don't charge my phone during the day. @pimoore, it all depends!
@martinfeld Thanks for the detailed reply and statistics, Martin! I’m iPad-only and primary at home, so my phone is a secondary device at best. Though to be fair, I’ve also read a couple of comments on Reddit (grain of salt) and Hackernews (more credible?) that even with light usage there was still poor battery life. Without knowing more specifics about the usage it was anecdotal evidence at best, but still gave me brief pause at the time.
I’m also trying to balance my concerns regarding battery life with the fact that I haven’t enjoyed my 7+ because of the size. It’s cumbersome and awkward like a bar of soap, and not really front pocketable. At this point, I think the only thing that would dissuade me from the Mini would be if I wanted the better camera in the 12 Pro (non-max), making battery life a side bonus. Of course, I’ve also read that if you’re buying for the camera, your best bet is the Max model for the larger sensor — no thanks.
// @alangmarz @burk @ericmwalk
@pimoore Yes, I had the 7 Plus too and while I liked it, I agree that it was quite large.
As further data for you, I am using my mini right now to type this, it’s 23:59 and the battery is at 29%.
I had the third lens on the previous Pro and although I used it, I don’t miss it, as things got a little noisy in low-light environments.
Do what suits you! 🙂
@martinfeld Thanks again, appreciate it! I’m taking a trip to the store next week to compare them in person, but I think you just helped seal the deal on the Mini. 👌🏻
@pimoore Just as another piece of data, I get light use out of my iPhone Mini most days (about 60–90 minutes of "screen on" time, plus often more time streaming Spotify to bluetooth speakers or whatever) and on those days my battery is about 75–80% by the time I go to bed. My suspicion is also that the people complaining about battery life must be doing numerous extended video calls each day, or playing hours of online games, or watching multiple movies per day… something that I would not consider "light use" myself. Or maybe they spend a lot of time in places where the phone has to strain to get a signal – I could see that affecting it. For me though, the battery life is more than adequate 🙂
