The iPhone 13 Mini is the smallest iPhone you can buy. And this means it has a smaller battery than the standard model. But just how bad is the iPhone 13 Mini’s battery life? Let’s find out…
Key Takeaways: iPhone 13 Mini Battery Stats
🔋 Long-Lasting Battery: Opt for the iPhone 13, 13 Pro, or 13 Pro Max if you want a battery that lasts multiple days on a single charge with moderate usage.
📉 Significant Mini Improvement: The iPhone 13 Mini vastly outperforms the iPhone 12 Mini in battery life, making it through a full day even under heavy usage.
🔧 Enhanced Capacity: The iPhone 13 Mini benefits from a 10% larger battery than its predecessor, using a 2406mAh battery compared to the 2227mAh in the iPhone 12 Mini.
🛠️ Efficient CPU Design: Apple’s focus on efficiency in the A15 CPU redesign significantly boosts battery performance across the iPhone 13 range by reducing power consumption.
Apple’s introduction of 5G and a smaller iPhone in its iPhone 12 series created a perfect storm of crappy battery life. The iPhone 12 mini used a smaller battery than the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro and this combined with its new power-hungry 5G modem resulted in the phone seldom making it to the end of the day.
All of Apple’s iPhone 12 models suffered from battery issues; the standard iPhone 12 could not hold a candle to the outgoing iPhone 11 which lasted around four hours longer. People wanted 5G on their iPhones, but no one had any idea about just how much power the new mobile data standard would gobble.
With the iPhone 13, Apple set about remedying this. It fitted ALL of its iPhone 13 models with significantly larger batteries and it ensured that its new A15 CPU was tuned for better efficiencies. The results were positive – all of Apple’s iPhone 13 models, including the iPhone 13 Mini, posted dramatically improved battery performances.
iPhone 13 Mini Battery Life – Is It Any Good?
If you want excellent, multiple-day-lasting battery life, you’re going to want to go with either the iPhone 13 / 13 Pro / 13 Pro Max. These models have big batteries and will last a good couple of days on a single charge with moderate usage.
The iPhone 13 Mini cannot do this. But it is LEAGUES better than the iPhone 12 mini.
How much better? Put it this way: when I tested the iPhone 12 mini, it wouldn’t do a full day. By 6 pm, it needed a top-up, or else it would have switched off. I haven’t used an iPhone that needed this kind of charger attention since about 2014, so this was quite a shock. By contrast, the iPhone 13 Mini will happily make it through an entire day – even with heavy usage.
This improvement in battery life was achieved by Apple using a 10% larger battery inside the iPhone 13 Mini. The iPhone 12 mini used a 2227mAh battery, while the 13 Mini uses a 2406mAh battery. And while 10% doesn’t sound like a lot, the difference is massive. But this isn’t just down to size differences in batteries, although this is a big component.
The main difference, where you’re getting the most gains from, is Apple’s redesign of its CPU. Rather than focussing on gross performance uplift, Apple has doubled down on efficiency with the A15, making it a leaner, less power-hungry CPU. And it is this, combined with the larger batteries, that improved the iPhone 13 Mini – and all of the other models in the range – battery performance.
Apple’s new A15 processor doubles its system cache to an industry-leading 32MB and drives double-digit performance gains across the CPU, GPU, and AI engine. While the CPU and GPU gains are impressive, they are smaller than last year’s, as the Cupertino giant instead focused on improving performance per watt to extend the battery life of its new iPhone 13 devices.
Tech Insights
iPhone 12 mini Battery vs iPhone 13 Mini Battery – What’s The Difference?
Apple says the iPhone 13 Mini will last 90 minutes longer on a single charge. In my above example of the iPhone 12 mini, that would mean rather than the phone dying at 9 pm, it’d make it through to 10:30 pm, a far more respectable time for a recharge. But that’s Apple’s spin on things. Oddly, I think Apple has understated the improvements this time.
When I tested the iPhone 13 mini, I didn’t experience any issues whatsoever with its battery performance. I ran it just like any other phone and it always made it through until bedtime – regardless of what time I went to bed, usually 10 PM in the week and midnight to 1 am at the weekends. Idle performance is excellent, as always, so if you’re not using the iPhone 13 Mini it simply doesn’t use power.
iPhone 13 Screen Time Battery Life
In terms of screen-time, you’re looking at around five and a bit hours before the phone is completely dead. That means, if you’re unsure about what I’m talking about, is that you’d have to have the screen on and running a video for five straight hours in order to completely drain the battery.
Five hours for a phone this size is very respectable. Apple claimed the iPhone 12 mini would do five hours also, but in my experience, it was closer to three. It is also worth noting that most people DO NOT run their screens on all the time. Your phone spends most of its time with its screen off, so five hours is more than enough for most users.
The bottom line here is this: if you’re worried about the iPhone 13 Mini’s battery life, you needn’t be – it is vastly improved over the iPhone 12 mini’s. It isn’t as good as the standard iPhone 13 or the Pro models. But for a smaller iPhone, it is significantly improved over what came before and it will last an entire day on a single charge.
For this reason, I have no problem recommending the iPhone 13 Mini to anyone, so long as you’re aware that for the best possible battery life you will be much better off with the iPhone 13 or one of Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro models.
If you prefer a smaller phone, the iPhone 13 Mini is well worth a look. It looks great, is a solid performer, and its battery life is now very much up to the task.
Bottom Line?
The iPhone 13 Mini’s battery life is much improved over the iPhone 12 mini’s – but it still orders of magnitude behind the larger phones inside Apple’s iPhone 13 series.
The phone, while still available to buy in 2024, probably isn’t worth it at this stage of the game. Apple ditched the mini models in favor of the Plus models with the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 series, and in 2025, the iPhone Slim variant will replace the Plus models.
Pound for pound, you’re going to be better off with the base model iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro – both have 6.1in displays and are very manageable in terms of their size.
If you want to save money, grab a refurbished iPhone 13 – they’re well cheap nowadays and they’ll get iOS updates for years to come.
Need an assist on which model to get? Check out our guide to the best iPhones to buy in 2024 – it covers all the bases (from a budgetary perspective).
