Snippet: The iPhone Mini is a Fun Phone That’s Not for Me ☇

Matt Birchler:

I’ve been using the iPhone 13 mini and it’s the first time I’ve ever used a mini in my life. In fact, I’m more of a Max phone guy, but people love the mini lineup and I had to know what was up. So I’ve set my iPhone 14 Pro Max side for a week and have gone all in on the mini lifestyle. Here’s how it went.

As someone whose daily driver has been a 12 mini since launch, I agree with most of Birchler’s assessments. Although still tolerable, battery life has been my biggest gripe (along with battery wear, leading me to get my battery replaced in December), but the other “downgrade” items from the Pro phones have been a non-issue for me, too. It’s a shame that Apple hasn’t found ways to develop and improve the minis or even repurpose the 12/13 mini design as a future SE (rumors sound like it might be XR/11-based).