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Apple iPhone 8 vs iPhone 12 mini

40 out of 100
Apple iPhone 8
VS
58 out of 100
Apple iPhone 12 mini
Apple iPhone 8
Apple iPhone 12 mini

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 4.7-inch Apple iPhone 8 (with Apple A11 Bionic) that was released on September 12, 2017, against the Apple iPhone 12 mini, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 3 years and 2 months after. 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
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 8
  • Fingerprint scanner
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 mini
  • 2.5x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1306K versus 520K)
  • Thinner bezels – 19.5% more screen real estate
  • Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • 46% higher pixel density (476 vs 326 PPI)
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Apple A14 Bionic
  • Has 2x more RAM: 4GB versus 2GB
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR4X
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • OLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
  • The phone is 3 years and 2 months newer
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone 8 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)

Should I update?
No 84% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Apple iPhone 8 to Apple iPhone 12 mini is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: performance, camera, and gaming.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
iPhone 8
vs
iPhone 12 mini

Display

Type IPS LCD OLED
Size 4.7 inches 5.4 inches
Resolution 750 x 1334 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 16:9 19.5:9
PPI 326 ppi 476 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 625 nits 625 nits
HDR support No Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Tempered glass -
Screen-to-body ratio 65.3% 84.8%
Display features - - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% -
PWM Not detected -
Response time 22 ms -
Contrast 1373:1 -
Screen space comparison
iPhone 12 mini
5.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 11.1 in2
iPhone 8
4.7″ (16:9 ratio) = 9.4 in2
~17% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
iPhone 8 +2%
636 nits
iPhone 12 mini
624 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 138.4 mm (5.45 inches) 131.5 mm (5.18 inches)
Width 67.3 mm (2.65 inches) 64.2 mm (2.53 inches)
Thickness 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 148 g (5.22 oz) 135 g (4.76 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Silver, Gold, Gray White, Black, Blue, Green, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button No
Screen-to-body ratio
iPhone 8
65.3%
iPhone 12 mini +30%
84.8%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPhone 8 and Apple iPhone 12 mini
SoC
Chipset Apple A11 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
Max clock 2100 MHz 3100 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.42 GHz: Mistral
- 2 cores at 2.39 GHz: Monsoon		 - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm
- 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 10 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Apple GPU Apple GPU
GPU shading units 192 256
GPU clock 1066 MHz 1278 MHz
FLOPS ~409.3 GFLOPS ~654.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPhone 8 and Apple iPhone 12 mini
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
iPhone 8
1093
iPhone 12 mini +95%
2130
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
iPhone 8
1828
iPhone 12 mini +169%
4912
Compute Score (GPU)
iPhone 8
5630
iPhone 12 mini +193%
16477
Compute Score (GPU) 5630 16477
Single-core score 1093 2130
Multi-core score 1828 4912
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
iPhone 8
520567
iPhone 12 mini +151%
1306432
CPU 249127 369310
GPU - 317860
Memory 102335 148720
UX 169105 461951
Total score 520567 1306432
Samples Less than 3 [9 tests]
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability - 75%
Graphics test - 10 FPS
Section 1 - 13 FPS
Section 2 - 10 FPS
Section 3 - 7 FPS
Graphics score - 2634
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability - 67%
Graphics test - 12 FPS
Graphics score - 2138
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPhone 8
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-05-13 (TestGame)Geekbench 6 GPU5630
📘 2026-05-13 (TestGame)Geekbench 6 CPU1093 / 1828
Add View all (2)
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
Add View all (11)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 2 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR4 LPDDR4X
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 64 GB 64 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iOS 11 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.5) iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27)
OS size 6 GB -

Battery

Capacity 1821 mAh 2227 mAh
Max charge power 15 W 20 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes, Qi (7.5 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes (50% in 30 min) Yes (60% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:15 hr 1:29 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 06:14 hr 06:04 hr
Watching video 09:59 hr 10:15 hr
Gaming 03:40 hr 03:53 hr
Standby 81 hr 79 hr
General battery life
iPhone 8 +1%
16:16 hr
iPhone 12 mini
16:11 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash Quad 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°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.6
Focal length 28 mm 26 mm
Sensor Apple iSight Camera Sony IMX372
Sensor size 1/3" (≈ 0.33 inch) 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution - 12 MP
Aperture - f/2.4
Focal length - 13 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX503
Sensor size - 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size - 1.4 micron
Stabilization - Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
iPhone 8
93
iPhone 12 mini +38%
128
Video quality
iPhone 8
90
iPhone 12 mini +43%
129
Generic main camera score
iPhone 8
92
iPhone 12 mini +27%
117
Bokeh - 55
Preview - 76
Zoom - 57
Samples Photo samples of Apple iPhone 8 from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 mini from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 7 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3088 x 2320 4290 x 2800
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 32 mm 23 mm
Sensor BSI CMOS Sony IMX514
Sensor size - 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron -
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 127
Video - 140

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Hotspot		 - 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 No
USB version 2 -
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support* No Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 16 18
5G support No Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
iPhone 8
80.1 dB
iPhone 12 mini
n/a

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2017 October 2020
Release date September 2017 November 2020
Launch price (MSRP) $699 $700
Successor - - Apple iPhone 13 mini
SAR (head) 1.35 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.36 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - 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 12 mini is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
33 (18.5%)
145 (81.5%)
Total votes: 178

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