Good things come in small packages.
I recently traded in my iPhone 12 Pro Max for an iPhone 13 mini. I had seen other reviewers praise the smaller form-factor of the iPhone 12 mini from 2020, but I was reluctant downsize because of its notorious battery life. However this year Apple increased the thickness of its entire iPhone 13 lineup which allowed them to fit bigger batteries inside their new phones. I still wasn’t sure.
But when I heard that the 13 mini has a battery life of almost 6 and a half hours of screen-on time compared to the less than 6 hours battery life of last year’s full sized iPhone 12, that was all I needed to hear.
I quickly filled out the trade-in form on Apple’s website, and I was off to the nearest Apple store. As I arrived home and began an iCloud backup, I was a little concerned with just how small the Mini was. I was sure that it was going to be too small for me — that I had made a mistake. However you can probably tell by the title of this post that’s not the case.
Having lived with an iPhone 13 mini for almost 2 months now, I can’t imagine going back to a larger iPhone. The size and form factor is just perfect, even for my large hands. It took a while adjusting to the keyboard as I kept accidentally pressing unwanted keys. It was also an adjustment going from the massive 6.7 inch screen size from my 12 Pro Max. You lose a lot of information on web pages, in the music app, and so on the mini’s screen. Now I just scroll more, which isn’t much of an inconvenience.
In fact, switching from an iPhone 12 Pro Max to a 13 mini has been a breeze. I get the same quality screen as my 12 Pro Max — just smaller. I get the same cameras as well, minus the telephoto lens. The speakers are fine for podcasts and YouTube, though no better or worse than other iPhones I’ve used previously. And the A15 SoC is just as snappy as last year’s A14, though I’m at a loss to notice a difference in my day to day. Basically, I downsized to the same phone I had been using for a year, and I couldn’t be happier.
The iPhone 13 mini fits perfectly in my hand.
Having a smaller phone, especially when compared to the Pro Max behemoth, has made life simpler. It fits perfectly in all my pants pockets. It’s easier to hold and use in one hand. Even for my large hands the Pro Max was a chore to use one-handed. Often times I would have to precariously balance the phone on my pinky finger just to reach a button towards the top of the screen.
But there were also some other quality of life improvements in downsizing that I wasn’t expecting. For one thing, I take more pictures with my 13 mini than I did with the 12 Pro Max. I can’t explain why, except for maybe its smaller form factor is just more inviting to use. Taking the Pro Max out of my pocket, opening the camera app, then putting it away was sometimes just too much work (I know how it sounds) and I rarely used it for photography except when sending messages to friends. But what’s crazy is in the 2 short months of using the 13 mini I’ve taken more photos so far than in a year with the 12 Pro Max.
iPhone 13 mini’s cameras are just as good as the 12 Pro Max.
Another quality of life improvement is using my phone less. I have to say, when your screen is this small, sometimes browsing the web isn’t worth it. Rarely will I spend long sessions mindlessly browsing on my phone.
I think the iPhone 13 mini is the perfect iPhone for me. It’s capable, not intrusive, and will do everything I need. It has great cameras, a great screen, and descent speakers all in a perfect handheld form factor. When comparing it to my wife’s iPhone 11, it feels just right. I don’t know how I managed all this time with that massive 12 Pro Max. Even the iPhone 11 feels too large to hold.
Rumor has it that Apple is nixing the mini lineup next year due to poor sales. While I can’t blame them, I’ll have to hold onto this one for as long as I can. Using it has made me nostalgic for my first iPhone — the iPhone 5 — which was one of my favorite iPhones of all time. For me, the iPhone 13 mini brings the magic back to the iPhone.
Here’s to a 14 Mini.