I got an iPhone 13 Mini

I bought the iPhone XS around two years ago. I still remember how huge it felt the first time I hold it in my hands. I went from the 129 g of the iPhone 6 to the 177 g of the iPhone XS. It was almost a 50% increase in weight.

At that time, I wondered why didn't Apple have a smaller full-screen device for users who were okay with holding the phone with one hand.

The success of the iPhone SE validated the idea that users were still in favor of a smaller device.

Apple listened to the customers and launched an iPhone 12 Mini one and half years ago. I was surprised and delighted at the same time. One year later, the little brother of the family got an upgrade, and the iPhone 13 Mini was born. I wanted it from the first second that I saw it. But I have a promise to myself: I don't renew phones until they crash.

The battery health of my iPhone XS was sitting at 85%. I was charging the phone in the afternoon to avoid running out of battery before evening. I was considering replacing the battery at the Apple Store. But other than that, the phone was working perfectly well—and it still is.

When I came to Thailand, my girlfriend told me that she had a special offer at dtac, a Thai telecom carrier. As she wanted to have an unlimited internet package, they offered her the iPhone 13 Mini for 11.400 baht, circa 300 euros. She purchased an iPhone 11 a year and a half ago, so she wasn't interested in getting the iPhone 13 Mini.

After she asked me to take the offer, it was a no-brainer for me. I said yes, and it has been the cheapest iPhone I've ever purchased (and the first time I break a promise to myself). On my hands, it feels like an iPhone 5s. The tiny size of the device makes me feel nostalgic about past mobile generations.

The color is also a bit different from the usual iPhone palette color. I've always gotten black iPhones. However, there is no black iPhone 13 Mini. Apple calls the darker color midnight, which is a dark navy color. You need to see it in real life to notice the difference between a black phone and this one.

In terms of performance, as a user, I don't notice a difference between the iPhone 13 Mini and the iPhone XS. I went from an A12 to an A15, but if you don't run performance tests, it's hard to see any differences. The biggest jump is on the camera, the more stable videos, and the night shots, which look better than the iPhone XS—and the cinema mode, which I haven't used so far.

The battery is one of the things where I'm not content. I need to charge the phone before having dinner. I need to say that I use the phone as a hotspot for a few hours per day, and it's the biggest downside of a small device. I love the phone's size, but I would rather have more battery life, than a smaller screen. Rumors are spreading that this might be the last generation of the iPhone Mini. I guess that users get used to larger devices after a while, Apple can charge more for larger surfaces, and more mAh is worth the pain of carrying a brick in your pocket.