Apple introduced the iPhone 12 mini in October 2020. IPhone 12 mini is one of our high-end models (US$ 600-799). Despite its small size, it is equipped with a high-resolution Super Retina XDR screen and dual cameras. Our battery benchmark engineer recently tested the Apple iPhone 12 mini；; The following are the main conclusions of the test.
Main specifications:
Battery capacity: 2227 mAh
20W charger
Chipset: A14 Bionic
5.4- inch, 2340 x 1080 (476 ppi), 60 Hz OLED screen
Test storage/memory combination: 4 GB/128 GB
Support wireless charging (12W)
About DXOMARK battery test: This paper aims to highlight the most important test results. (For more details about our smartphone battery benchmark, please read our battery benchmark.
superiority
Thanks to excellent software optimization, battery discharge is extremely efficient.
Support wireless charging, comparable to wired charging.
insufficient
Small capacitance (2227 mA), which seriously affects the battery life.
Although there is a 20W charger, the charging speed is slow.
IPhone 12 mini has an appropriate name, small overall size and small battery capacity, which is only 2227 mA. At the time of writing, it has the smallest capacitance in our entire battery database. However, although its capacity has a significant impact on battery life, it always scores 59, ahead of several other devices with larger batteries.
We compare the performance of iPhone 12 mini in several key categories with another high-end device, Google Pixel 5, and one plus 8T in our mid-to high-end models (400-599 USD). The battery capacity, chargers, screen types and resolutions, and processor specifications of all three devices are shown in the following table.
How long the battery can run continuously depends not only on the battery capacity, but also on other aspects such as mobile phone hardware and software. The battery life score of DXOMARK consists of three performance test scores: (1) indoor static, (2) outdoor movement, and (3) calibration mode. The score of each test item contains a series of comprehensive test results to measure the battery life in various real-life scenarios.
At the time of writing, the overall battery life score of Apple iPhone 12 mini is 41, which is very close to the last one in our database. Its battery capacity (2227 mA) is obviously different from that of Google Pixel 5(4080 mA) and one plus 8T (4500 mA), so it is difficult to compete with them.
However, it is worth noting that when the power of the iPhone 12 mini is displayed as 10%, the remaining power is indeed 10%, so the user will not suddenly reduce the remaining usage time because the power is about to run out. This is an advantage that many other mobile phones don’t have. )
Now let’s take a closer look at the performance of the mini battery in the endurance test.
The robot in faraday cage simulates a series of touch-screen actions of users, which we call "typical usage scenarios", including making phone calls and watching online videos, which often lasts for 16 hours, of which 4 hours are active and 8 hours are dormant. The robot repeats the same action every day until the battery power runs out.
Although there is a big gap in battery capacity, the iPhone 12 mini is not inferior to competing products, and its battery life is only four hours less than that of Google and One Plus. The following chart shows the performance of iPhone 12 mini and competing products in typical usage scenarios driven by robots:
When using a smart phone when moving outdoors, the battery life will be reduced because of additional "hidden" requirements, such as continuously transmitting signals to select a cellular network. DXOMARK battery experts take the mobile phone outdoors to perform a set of precisely preset activities, and each device follows the same three-hour moving route.
The outdoor mobile score of iPhone 12 mini is 51 points, which is consistent with the score of Pixel 5, but obviously lags behind the score of 61. According to the analysis of a single usage scenario, Yijia is far superior to Apple and Google’s devices in 3G calling, and Apple and Google are slightly close to Yijia in camera and GPS (Google is almost consistent with Yijia in the use of social media apps).
In order to complete this kind of test, the mobile phone will return to faraday cage, and our robot will repeat a set of specified activities (usage scenarios), such as games and streaming media. Starting from 80% power, all devices should be tested until they run out of at least 5% battery power.
If the iPhone 12 mini is not in the default automatic mode, but in the calibration mode (the screen brightness is 200 nits and the speaker volume is 60 decibels), it will not be comparable to the competing products and fall behind in all tests. However, it is worth noting that Apple claims that the mini can provide 10 hours of video streaming, and on average, the iPhone exceeds this number in calibration mode, with 13 hours of play online time in WiFi and 8 hours and 30 minutes in 4G.
The charging score of DXOMARK battery consists of two sub-scores: charging speed and fast charging. Full charge test to evaluate the reliability of battery icon; Evaluate how long it takes for the battery to charge from 0% to 80% and from 80% to 100%; At the same time, measure how long and how much power it takes for the battery to be fully charged from the icon display 100%. Under different power levels (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%), the fast charging test can measure the power received by the battery after five minutes of power connection.
The charging performance of iPhone 12 mini is slightly below average. In view of its small battery capacity and 20W charger, we expected the iPhone to charge faster. On the contrary, its charging performance is similar to that of Google Pixel 5 with 4080 mAh capacity and 18W charger.
Although it takes twice as long for the iPhone 12 mini to run out of power and charge to 80% (the former is close to 52 minutes and the latter is 25 minutes), the Apple device is better than Google, which takes 1 hour and 14 minutes to reach 80%. In addition, it takes longer for iPhone to display from 80% to 100% than Google and One Plus, and it takes longer to display from 100% to fully charge than I, but shorter than Google.
In terms of wireless charging, it takes 1 hour and 36 minutes for the iPhone 12 Mini to reach 80% at 12W (52 minutes for wired charging)-but it is not bad in a word.
The remaining power when the user charges the iPhone 12 mini will affect the endurance obtained after plugging in for 5 minutes. When connected to the power supply when the remaining 20%, the battery life of Apple devices is more than twice as long as when the remaining power is 80%. Although these results are similar to those of Google Pixel 5, after five minutes of charging, one plus 8T provides about twice the extra battery life as the other two devices.
The battery efficiency score of DXOMARK consists of two sub-scores, charging and discharging. The data used are from the typical usage scene test of robot, outdoor mobile test, charging evaluation and power measurement, and the battery capacity of equipment is also considered.
Although the measured battery life can’t compete with most devices with larger battery capacity, the battery life of the iPhone 12 mini is still good (here, it shows excellent discharge efficiency) if considering its small capacitance.
Although the charging efficiency of Apple iPhone 12 Mini is 68% higher than that of Google Pixel 5 (66%), it is far from one plus 8T (81%). Similarly, its low score here is also attributed to an unexpectedly inefficient charger.
Apple iPhone 12 mini has what our engineers call "amazing performance" in all discharge tests except 3G calls. In the default mode, it discharges only half the current of competing products, which proves that it is a well-designed smart phone and has obtained the highest score of this sub-attribute in our database so far.
Apple iPhone 12 mini is a well-designed smart phone with very effective software optimization, and its battery has become the leader in discharge efficiency in our database so far. However, compared with almost all other devices we have tested, its small battery capacity makes the battery life too short.
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