Why buy an Apple iPhone 12 mini?
Mozillion Apple iPhone 12 mini review
Ridiculously fast and smooth
Beautiful photos on a beautiful screen
Praise be! A genuinely compact phone!
Not convinced? Try one of these alternatives to an Apple iPhone 12 mini:
iPhone 12 - same phone, slightly bigger
iPhone 13 mini - the newer, better version
Motorola Razr 5G - a different approach to small
Introduction
If you’re a fan of compact phones, Apple has you covered. The iPhone 12 mini is genuinely smaller than most other smartphones, but nonetheless offers the full iPhone 12 experience. Blistering performance, 5G connectivity, and a sumptuous screen - you can tick them all off. More than just a pint-sized icon, the new iPhone 12 mini is quietly practical too. It’s water resistant, has an all-day battery, and now supports a range of mag-safe accessories.
Design
The iPhone continues to set the benchmark for beautiful smartphones, and the iPhone 12 mini simply shrinks a winning formula. Its gorgeous Super Retina XDR screen extends almost right to the edge of the phone, helping keep it to a trim 147x72mm.
The iPhone 12 mini keeps Apple’s Lightning connector for charging and data, but there’s also support for new MagSafe wireless chargers. The MagSafe system supports a range of other accessories including cases and car mounts, helping keep wires out of the picture.
Camera
The iPhone 12 mini camera is one of the best you’ll find on any mobile phone. Its 12 megapixel system comprises two cameras providing wide and ultra wide angles - but it misses out on the third, telephoto camera only found on iPhone 12 Pro models. There’s optical image stabilisation, with up to a 5X software zoom. The results are sensational in almost any lighting conditions.
Video
The iPhone 12 mini deals out the same great video quality as its bigger sibling. It can record 4K video at up to sixty frames per second (60fps), or HDR video with Dolby Vision at 30fps. There’s optical image stabilisation too, so you can get a steady shot even when you’re moving about.
Display
The smallest iPhone 12 has less room for a screen, but that hasn’t stopped Apple cramming in a 5.4” beauty that stretches almost edge to edge. The OLED screen packs in an incredible 476 pixels per inch - more than any other iPhone 12! The result? Sharper text and crisper, vibrant images, in one of the best small phone screens you’ll find.
Processor
All the new iPhone 12 models benefit from the Apple A14 Bionic chip. Apple says it’s the fastest processor in any smartphone, and who are we to doubt it? Capable of one trillion operations a second, the A14 might seem like overkill for those group WhatsApp messages, but it helps make the iPhone 12 mini a formidable gaming, photography and filmmaking platform.
Battery
With less room for the battery, the iPhone 12 mini can’t quite match its bigger siblings for endurance. It’ll still play back 15 hours of video on one charge, though - just a couple of hours shy of the iPhone 12. When the battery is spent, you can charge it to 50% in just 30 minutes.
Colours & Options
Apple remains one of the few smartphone makers to bother with more than a couple of colours. The iPhone 12 mini can be had in the traditional white or black, along with red, green, purple or blue. You can buy cases that clash or compliment, and other MagSafe accessories such as a wireless charging cradle for the car.
The cheapest iPhone 12 mini is the cheapest iPhone 12 you can buy. It comes with just 64GB of storage, but you can pay more for 128GB or 256GB. iPhones have never had an SD card slot, so you can’t expand the storage later. You won’t find earbuds or a charger in the iPhone 12 mini box. The phone has no 3.5mm socket, but you can buy EarPods with a Lightning connector if you’re not ready to go wireless.
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