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iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Which small phone is best?

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Which small telephone is best?

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE
(Image credit: Apple;Future)

When the iPhone SE came out earlier this twelvemonth, information technology may not have answered the hopes of those looking for a smaller iPhone, as its iv.7-inch screen and thick bezels were larger than the OG 4.0-inch iPhone SE. Enter the brand-new iPhone 12 mini, which packs a ton of upgrades, and puts everything in a smaller, lighter frame.

The iPhone SE, though, is still significantly lighter on your wallet, as one of the best cheap phones on the market. Can that low price stand up against the iPhone 12's more advanced hardware and modern design? To find out, we put together this iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE face-off.

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How much more bang for your buck do you get with the newer, smaller iPhone (which looks like information technology belongs on our best phones listing)? Read on to find out.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Tech specs

iPhone 12 mini iPhone SE (2020)
Starting price $699 on AT&T and Verizon, $729 elsewhere $399
Cellular connectivity 5G 4G LTE
Display 5.iv-inch Super Retina XDR four.seven-inch Retina Hard disk drive
Processor A14 Bionic A13 Bionic
Rear Camera(s) 2x 12MP cameras (Ultra Wide ƒ/2.4, Wide: ƒ/1.6), Night Mode, 2x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom 12MP camera (Broad ƒ/1.viii), 5x digital zoom
Front camera 12MP TrueDepth (ƒ/2.2), Smart HDR 3 photos, HDR/Dolby Vision for video 7MP FaceTime Hd (ƒ/2.2), Auto HDR photos
Security Face ID Touch ID
Storage 64GB | 128GB | 256GB 64GB | 128GB | 256GB
Dimensions 5.2 x 2.five x 0.3 inches 5.five x 2.7 ten 0.3 inches
Weight 4.8 ounces 5.2 ounces
Battery life (Hrs:Mins) Non still tested 9:xviii (tested)
Charging Lightning port, MagSafe, Qi Lightning port, Qi

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Prices and release dates

The iPhone SE is still surprisingly cheap (for an iPhone), starting at $399. That model gives you lot 64GB of internal storage, and there are two higher capacity iPhone SE phones: the 128GB model costs $449 and the 256GB model costs $549.

The iPhone 12 mini is much more expensive (but still cheaper than bigger iPhone 12s), starting at $699. That price depends, though, on the carrier you lot're using. The iPhone 12 mini is $699 if you purchase it on AT&T or Verizon, and its price goes up to $729 if y'all buy it unlocked, or from another carrier like T-Mobile.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: iPhone 12 mini

(Image credit: Apple tree)

And just similar the iPhone SE, y'all'll pay more for actress storage. The entry-level iPhone 12 mini comes with 64GB, and an upgrade to 128GB costs $150 extra, bringing yous to $749/$779 and the 256GB version costs some other $100, with a price of $849/$879.

You tin get the iPhone SE correct now, as it'due south been on auction since April. You lot'll need to look a fleck for the iPhone 12 mini, as it won't come out until Nov. 13.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Design

The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone SE prove the two dissimilar design languages that Apple tree's used over the last decade. The iPhone SE is the older version, with a habitation push and large meridian and lesser bezels, while the iPhone 12 mini has the signature iPhone notch and no home button. Both are made of the same aluminum that Apple rates equally "aerospace-class."

Plus, the iPhone 12 mini has flat sides (compared to the iPhone SE'southward curved edges) which I recollect looks better, as I've seen this style in the iPad Pro. Too, I bet the flatter sides will brand the newer iPhone easier to hold.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: design

iPhone 12 mini (Image credit: Apple)

Ditching the bezels also enables the iPhone 12 mini to exist more than portable, while however offering a larger screen. That's correct, the 5.iv-inch iPhone 12 mini (5.2 x 2.5 x 0.iii inches, 4.8 ounces) is smaller and lighter than the 4.seven-inch iPhone SE (5.5 ten 2.7 x 0.three inches, 5.two ounces). That smaller size will also likely help the iPhone 12 mini fit in your palm better.

But learning what Apple's inverse beyond that aesthetic await gives many a reason to pay the premium for the iPhone 12 mini. Tired of cracked screens? Apple's partnership with Corning (the folks backside Gorilla Glass) has led to the iPhone 12's new Ceramic Shield front, which the company claims gives you "4x improve drop performance," vs. previous iPhones. That should translate to seriously improved durability. We anticipate plenty of iPhone 12 drop tests.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: side by side

iPhone 12 mini vs. iPhone SE sizes (Epitome credit: Apple)

The iPhone 12'due south design also gives yous improved water resistance, as it'south able to survive deeper submersion. Apple rates it for surviving depths of upwards to 6 meters for 30 minutes, while the iPhone SE tin can only go 1 meter, for the same length of time.

While the iPhone SE and iPhone 12 mini are both available in black, white and Product (Cherry), the latter is too available in two new colors: a light green and a nighttime bluish. Both look great on screen, just we've yet to encounter them in person.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Displays

If you can look past that notch, the iPhone 12 mini's five.4-inch Super Retina XDR OLED brandish should win out here. For starters, the OLED engineering science and HDR visuals on the mini'southward screen requite yous rich picture quality — more vibrant colors, darker blackness tones and more than — that the SE does not. The iPhone SE has an LCD panel, which might be practiced enough for many, provided they haven't seen an iPhone X or iPhone 11 display.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: iPhone SE display

iPhone SE (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Plus, the iPhone 12 mini's 2340x1080-pixel resolution panel makes for a much sharper (476 ppi) screen. That's much more crisp than you'll go with the iPhone SE's 1334x750-pixel, 326 ppi panel. And, yes, the iPhone 12 mini's screen is Full HD to the iPhone SE's barely-HD console.

The iPhone 12 mini screen also takes points on moving-picture show quality with a much higher contrast ratio (2,000,000:1 vs the iPhone SE'due south 1400:i), which will brand for pictures and videos that await much more vibrant.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: iPhone 12 mini display

iPhone 12 mini (Image credit: Apple tree)

Apple rates the iPhone 12 mini for the same max effulgence equally the iPhone SE. While Apple claims both phones hit 625 nits, our tests showed the SE maxes out at an even higher 653 nits (which is actually bright).

The iPhone SE produces 111.2% of the sRGB spectrum (once again, keen for its price), and nosotros look forward to testing how colorful and brilliant the iPhone 12 mini gets.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Cameras

Once more, the iPhone 12 mini handily beats the iPhone SE, and this time it's past a magnitude of 100% (at least on one side). While the iPhone SE has a single 12-megapixel wide-angle rear-facing photographic camera sensor, the iPhone 12 mini packs two 12MP cameras: a wide-angle sensor along with an ultra-broad lens.

And before nosotros break downwards all the perks of the iPhone 12 mini'southward cameras, let it exist said that the iPhone SE has an splendid camera that creates shockingly adept photos for its $399 cost. The shots we took on the SE — including close-ups, portraits and shots of fish swimming — all looked pretty expert. The only real flaw we found was that the iPhone SE lacks Dark Mode.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: iPhone 12 mini cameras

iPhone 12 mini (Image credit: Apple tree Event)

Simply comparing the wide-angle cameras on both iPhone models, the iPhone 12 mini wins, as information technology's got an discontinuity of ƒ/1.6, letting more light in (for meliorate photos); the iPhone SE'due south sensor has an discontinuity of ƒ/1.8. Likewise, the iPhone 12 mini's wide-angle camera has a 7-element lens (vs the SE's vi-element lens), which should enable images and video with sharper detail, and improvements in low-light scenarios.

The iPhone 12 mini also offers 2x optical zoom, where the iPhone SE only gives you 5x digital zoom (which won't be as precipitous).

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: cameras

iPhone 12 mini (Paradigm credit: Apple tree)

In terms of selfies, you'll likewise get sharper photos on the iPhone 12, which has a 12MP front end camera that beats the 7MP sensor in the iPhone SE. Both, though, have Portrait fashion, for photos with the bokeh issue that makes you lot expect sharp while softening your properties.

Paying more also gets y'all Night Mode photography — for more illuminated photos in low-light settings — with the iPhone 12 mini (in all of its cameras). You can even accept Night Style time-lapse photos with the mini. The iPhone SE doesn't have a smidge of Night Way.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: iPhone SE photo sample

Yeah, the iPhone SE shot this photo (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The iPhone 12 mini provides the computational photography tricks that help Apple accelerate beyond camera tech. For example, Smart HDR iii and motorcar learning assistance the iPhone 12 mini automatically adjust for extremely bright spots in photos, which Apple provided an example of, with a photo of a adult female dancing in front of direct sunlight, where at that place was tons of item, including the dirt path, and highlighted how clear her face up was.

In other words, the iPhone 12 mini gives you sharp ultra-wide photography that the iPhone SE won't, optical zoom and Dark Mode. Plus, it's got the smarts for but amend photos.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Confront ID vs Impact ID

This one's a matter of your preference. The iPhone 12 mini has Face ID, which pretty chop-chop unlocks your phone when you merely look at it. But there are times when you'd probably wish it had the iPhone SE's Touch ID, such as when you're out and about wearing a face up mask.

Apple's thankfully made information technology easier to bound to passcode unlock in those masked situations, but I yet wish the iPhone 12 mini had Touch ID too.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Performance

The existent-life differences between the iPhone 12 mini's A14 Bionic chip and the iPhone SE's A13 Bionic chip are going to exist something nosotros learn about as we exam the new iPhone 12s out. For at present, though, nosotros can pretty hands come across the newer iPhone will be faster.

Apple claims that the CPU and GPU operation will exist 50% faster (presumably compared to the iPhone xi, which also ran on the A13 Bionic chip). These gains were fabricated thanks to the A14 being the first smartphone processor built on the 5-nanometer procedure technology.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE

(Prototype credit: Apple)

But that's all on paper. We'll test the iPhone 12 ourselves to detect out it compares. The iPhone SE, for its price, offers amazing performance from that A13 chip, with a 3,226 on the Geekbench 5 benchmark, that was comparable to the more than-pricey iPhone 11 and edged out the 3,147 from the Galaxy S20.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Battery life

The Tom's Guide bombardment exam (continuous web-browsing over LTE) drained the iPhone SE in 9:18. That time is closer to Apple's streaming video judge of upwards to 8 hours of battery than its 13-hour local video playback rating.

We wait forward to running the iPhone 12 mini on the Tom's Guide bombardment examination, to see how close information technology gets to Apple tree's claims (17 hours of local video, 11 hours of streaming video).

For what it'south worth, the iPhone xi — the last Apple phone to debut at the iPhone 12 mini'south $699 price — lasted more than than 11 hours on our battery test, placing it on the best telephone battery life list. But the iPhone 11'southward battery is probable much larger than what Apple tin fit into the iPhone 12 mini.

Both phones can charge wireless, though only the iPhone 12 mini supports new MagSafe wireless charging, a magnetic organisation that charges faster than many Qi-based wireless pads.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE: Outlook

Information technology looks similar the iPhone 12 mini is the better phone in every single mode, minus its higher toll. While the iPhone SE is not a bad phone, the iPhone 12 mini's got it beat in most key categories, with a display that supports high-terminate media standards, more cameras that offer smarter tricks and a new design that gives you more than screen and puts less weight in your pocket.

iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone SE

(Prototype credit: Apple;Future)

You can't be faulted for picking the iPhone SE, though, if you think "great" is good plenty when "greater" costs 75% more. The iPhone SE's cameras and operation are both fantastic for its price, and give you a lot for less than Apple'due south ever priced an iPhone.

Of course, this is why we really examination phones, and not just take manufacturer'southward word on how adept the latest gadgets are. Stay tuned to Tom's Guide for our full iPhone 12 mini review, so nosotros can meet how it stacks upwards with the rest of the palm-sized phones. If the iPhone 12 mini beats the SE on battery life past a pregnant margin, then this may be game over.

Henry is a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past six-plus years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild globe of professional person wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-12-mini-vs-iphone-se-which-small-phone-is-best

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