HIGHLIGHTS
- The iPhone 12 Mini has a 5.4-inch screen and a compact design.
- It shares core hardware with the other iPhone 12 series phones.
- The Apple iPhone 12 mini has been priced at Rs 69,990 in India.
On these pages, we earlier reviewed the iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Today, we complete our roundup of the iPhone 12 series with this review of the iPhone 12 mini, the baby phone in the pack. Or as some would call it, the pocket rocket of the iPhone world, given how it shares its hardware with the other iPhone series phones. In fact, when it comes to the core hardware, the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 mini are similar, except the size and a couple of parts like the screen, battery and - something I found while using the 12 mini - the stereo speakers.
In other words, what Apple is proposing with this phone is this: if you want a top-end smartphone but in a size that is closer to your old iPhone like the iPhone 7 or iPhone 5s, in 2020 the iPhone 12 mini is what you should buy.
There is one weird bit, though. I don't understand why "mini" in the iPhone 12 mini is with the small "m" but the iPhone 12 Pro Max has "M" in capital letter.
All right, coming back to the topic, let take a closer look at the iPhone 12 mini with the small "m".
Lightest 5G phone
Apple terms the iPhone 12 mini the lightest 5G smartphone in the world. This is a claim that checks out. The iPhone 12 mini weighs just 133 grams, which is 30 grams lighter than the iPhone 12. It is even lighter than the Google Pixel 4A, a phone made of plastic with a metal frame, which is a surprise given that the iPhone 12 mini uses a metal and glass body. The reason why it is so light is its screen size. The 12 mini has a 5.4-inch screen, something that also makes the phone extremely compact. So compact that it is smaller than even the iPhone SE 2nd Gen, which has a screen size of 4.7-inch. Let's not get lost in the numbers, though. The key part here is that the iPhone 12 mini completely, totally, in a proven way, without any doubt, justifies the "mini" in its name. It is a small and light phone that anyone with somewhat smaller hands will appreciate
In other words, if you want a phone that you can use with one hand, want a phone that you can securely grip without the phone cutting into your fingers, the one you can hold for hours without feeling any strain on your wrist, the iPhone 12 mini fits the bill.
And it fits the bill while looking as good as the iPhone 12, or for that matter any other phone out there. The boxy design, with flat edges, is even better on the iPhone 12 mini because its smaller size means you neither need the convenience and the comfort of the rounded edges nor need it. On the back there is glass cover in glossy while similar to the iPhone 12, the 12 mini too has an aluminium frame with a matte finish. The build quality and finishing is fantastic, something that you expect - and deserve - from a phone that costs Rs 69,900. Though I don't like the glossy finish and much prefer the frosted glass of the iPhone 12 Pro. The glossy glass on both the iPhone 12 and the 12 mini gets smudges easily and looks messy within ten minutes of use. Though I believe most users will put the 12 mini in a case, so it should be all right.
On the front, there is the notch that is common to all the iPhones this year. The bezels around the screen are uniform, giving the phone a more cohesive and clean appearance compared to Android phones.
Screen: well, this is the strength of the iPhone 12 mini as well as its biggest weakness. That is if we can call it a weakness because those who are getting this phone will be doing so fully knowing how small it is. That said, I do want to make it clear: if you have used a phone with a larger screen, say the iPhone XR, or the iPhone X, or one of the Android phones with a bigger screen, you may find the 12 mini screen on the smaller side for your use. But if you are coming from something like the iPhone SE 1st Gen or the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8, you will be more than happy with the iPhone 12 mini display.
The quality of the display is excellent. It is an OLED display, and while it doesn't get as bright as an Android phone like the OnePlus 8 Pro or the iPhone 12 Pro, it shows nice and accurate colours. It is not weirdly overly saturated, and the display also has more depth in colours than what you get on a phone like the iPhone 11, which has an LCD screen. The resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels is plenty sharp.
Personally, I am not a big fan of small screens. I am also not a fan of gigantic phones like the Samsung S20 Ultra, which are unusable. Even the iPhone 12 Pro Max is at the limit of how big and heavy a phone should be. But at the same time, I find phones with screens closer to five inches too cramped. They are a little cramped for typing, and appear too tiny for me to enjoy watching videos on them, or reading lengthy pieces on the web.
Do understand, though, that this is more of personal observation. Fans of smaller screens will not feel the same about the iPhone 12 mini, though I believe that for most people a compact phone with a screen size of around 6 inches, like the way iPhone 12, is a better experience.
Like other iPhone 12 phones
The beauty of the iPhone 12 mini is that it is not just small, but it also comes packed with the hardware that is similar to what users get with the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 Pro. This means it has 4GB RAM just like the iPhone 12, has the A14 Bionic processor, which is common across all the iPhone 12 variants, has similar design and feature set, comes with the same 12-megapixel front camera and has the same dual-camera setup on the rear that the iPhone 12 also features.
Consequently, it looks and works exactly like any other iPhone 12 variant. I don't find any lags on this phone, or anything amiss with its network performance (tested with Airtel 4G SIM and 200mbps Wi-Fi). In terms of performance, I don't feel that there is any difference between the 12 mini and the iPhone 12, though due to its smaller size I do notice that its glass cover gets warmer faster when you are playing a game on it.
The only area where I find a meaningful difference in performance between the 12 mini and other iPhone 12 series phones is the performance of the stereo speakers. The iPhone 12 mini can get surprisingly loud despite its size but the sound that comes out of its speakers is thinner and less wholesome than what I hear from the excellent speakers of the iPhone 12. It is clear that (likely) smaller speakers in the iPhone 12 mini have inferior sound, and can neither segregate the mids, highs and low properly, nor have the oomph that the speakers in the iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro can manage.
Battery life is, obviously, not as good as the iPhone 12 Pro Max battery life, or for that matter the iPhone 11 battery life, but it is good enough. I usually got a battery life of 13-15 hours with the iPhone 12 mini, although this is with the 4G network and with Wi-Fi. I believe most users will have to charge the 12 mini daily.
iPhone 12 mini camera performance
The iPhone 12 mini has the same camera system that is in the iPhone 12, and the performance is almost the same. To recap: there are three cameras in the phone. On the front, there is a 12-megapixel camera. On the rear, there is a regular camera with a 12-megapixel sensor, and then a 12-megapixel camera with an ultra-wide-angle lens.
Here are the top features:
-- The portrait mode works on both front and rear cameras. And so does the Night Mode.
-- 4K video recording in up to 60FPS in standard colour format. If you wish to record the Dolby Vision video with 10-bit HDR colours, the frame rate drops to 30FPS.
-- The Main camera has optical image stabilisation.
Here is how it all works. Check the image samples, and to open them in higher resolution click on them.
-- The iPhone 12 mini in good light clicks detailed, well-saturated and well-exposed photos. For example, see the pictures of tall buildings, yellow crates and the yellow flower.
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