Apple iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 mini

65 out of 100
Apple iPhone 13
VS
58 out of 100
Apple iPhone 12 mini

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.1-inch Apple iPhone 13 (with Apple A15 Bionic) that was released on September 14, 2021, against the Apple iPhone 12 mini, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 11 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13
  • Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
  • Comes with 1000 mAh larger battery capacity: 3227 vs 2227 mAh
  • Shows 44% longer battery life (23:23 vs 16:11 hours)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Delivers 33% higher peak brightness (828 against 624 nits)
  • The phone is 11 months newer
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 mini
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 7.3 mm narrower
  • Weighs 39 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 mini crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
4 / 128 GB
VS
4 / 64 GB
108.4
(Excellent)
Value Index
66.5
(Good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.1 inches 5.4 inches
Resolution 1170 x 2532 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 460 ppi 476 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 800 nits 625 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1200 nits -
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen-to-body ratio 87.1% 84.8%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 129% -
PWM 609 Hz -
Response time 7.5 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Screen space comparison
iPhone 13
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
iPhone 12 mini
5.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 11.1 in2
~27% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
iPhone 13 +33%
828 nits
624 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) 131.5 mm (5.18 inches)
Width 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) 64.2 mm (2.53 inches)
Thickness 7.65 mm (0.3 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 174 g (6.14 oz) 135 g (4.76 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Blue, Green, Red, Pink White, Black, Blue, Green, Red
Fingerprint scanner No No
Screen-to-body ratio
iPhone 13 +3%
87.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPhone 13 and Apple iPhone 12 mini
SoC
Chipset Apple A15 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
Max clock 3230 MHz 3100 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard
- 2 cores at 3.23 GHz: Avalanche
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm
- 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 5 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Apple GPU (4 cores) Apple GPU
GPU shading units 640 256
GPU clock 1338 MHz 1278 MHz
FLOPS ~1712.6 GFLOPS ~654.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPhone 13 and Apple iPhone 12 mini
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
iPhone 13 +5%
2241
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
iPhone 13 +8%
5317
Compute Score (GPU)
iPhone 13 +12%
18447
Compute Score (GPU) 18447 16477
Single-core score 2241 2130
Multi-core score 5317 4912
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
iPhone 13 +8%
1413275
1306432
CPU 410975 369310
GPU 370837 317860
Memory 164151 148720
UX 467312 461951
Total score 1413275 1306432
Samples [26 tests] [9 tests]
3DMark Solar Bay
iPhone 13 +22%
3225
Stability 76% 75%
Graphics test 12 FPS 10 FPS
Section 1 16 FPS 13 FPS
Section 2 12 FPS 10 FPS
Section 3 9 FPS 7 FPS
Graphics score 3225 2634
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
iPhone 13 +14%
2445
Stability 74% 67%
Graphics test 14 FPS 12 FPS
Graphics score 2445 2138
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPhone 13
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-19 (Vova)AnTuTu 111297615
📘 2026-09-18 (charlesddd)AnTuTu 111461749
📘 2026-09-08 (lUjekSh)Geekbench 6 GPU18864
📘 2026-09-08 (lUjekSh)Geekbench 6 CPU2327 / 5604
📘 2026-09-03 (Yulik🇺🇦)AnTuTu 111289105
Apple iPhone 12 mini
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-06-30 (Kirious)AnTuTu 111251875
📘 2026-06-30 (Kirious)AnTuTu 111251875
📘 2026-05-04 (Noorulain khan)AnTuTu 111319503
📘 2026-03-26 (Khalil)AnTuTu 111247945
📘 2026-02-04 -> HouramuiAnTuTu 111352611

Memory

RAM
RAM size 4 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2133 MHz -
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 64 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27)
OS size 18 GB -

Battery

Capacity 3227 mAh 2227 mAh
Max charge power 20 W 20 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (7.5 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes (60% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:46 hr 1:29 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:29 hr 06:04 hr
Watching video 13:58 hr 10:15 hr
Gaming 05:12 hr 03:53 hr
Standby 114 hr 79 hr
General battery life
iPhone 13 +44%
23:23 hr
16:11 hr

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash Dual LED Quad LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.6 f/1.6
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX603 Sony IMX372
Sensor size 1/1.9" (≈ 0.53 inch) 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size 1.7 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.4
Focal length 14 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX372 Sony IMX503
Sensor size 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.4 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
iPhone 13 +12%
144
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 65 55
Preview 76 76
Zoom 65 57
Samples Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 mini from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4290 x 2800
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor Sony IMX514 Sony IMX514
Sensor size 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) Yes Yes
DxOMark front camera
Photo 128 127
Video 143 140

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type - No
USB version 2 -
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 18 18
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2021 October 2020
Release date September 2021 November 2020
Launch price (MSRP) $800 $700
Successor - Apple iPhone 17 - Apple iPhone 13 mini
SAR (head) 0.99 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 0.98 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 13 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
112 (46.1%)
131 (53.9%)
Total votes: 243

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
🌐 Register your profile and become part of DeviceFacts community!