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DexBell

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Original poster
Oct 23, 2016
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Only had the Mini a few days and every time I charge it, it gets warm and the screen dims to where I can't raise the brightness. Using an 18 watt Apple charger. Does this happen every time you charge it? Annoying.
 

DexBell

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Original poster
Oct 23, 2016
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This is not normal. I would contact Apple and ask for a replacement.
Figures. It will cool off and I can raise the brightness if I let it sit about 10 minutes, but I shouldn't think using the phone while its charging should make it warm up so much it has to lock the brightness. Thanks
 

firoze

macrumors regular
Jul 3, 2011
239
83
Only had the Mini a few days and every time I charge it, it gets warm and the screen dims to where I can't raise the brightness. Using an 18 watt Apple charger. Does this happen every time you charge it? Annoying.
Not normal at all. I have charged my 12 mini with the Apple 18w charger and it barely gets warm. Try restarting the phone, if that doesn't help then contact Apple
 

LFC2020

macrumors P6
Apr 4, 2020
16,874
38,036
The A14 beast shouldn’t be doing that, it’s bulletproof, sounds like you got a lemon, get a replacement.
 

acorntoy

macrumors 68020
May 25, 2010
2,022
2,260
Disregard the alarmist post. Are you using the device while this happens? Any apps/etc it happens more often than others? Is it connected to 5G or wifi when this occurs? Your usage could be drastically different from the people above who are going crazy.
The phone has no fan and will throttle itself (as has been normal) with the processor/screen brightness etc if it gets too overloaded, with this happening increasing often since the A5X in the iPad 3. If you plug it in, drop it and it gets hot as hell there’s a problem, if your using it it’s probably just hitting the limits of its thermal design and throttling different aspects of the device accordingly. Note the mini has the smallest area of any A14 (or any cutting edge ARM) processor to disperse heat. When Apple says it’s the lightest and smallest 5G device you take hits in certain areas.
 
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DexBell

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Original poster
Oct 23, 2016
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Disregard the alarmist post. Are you using the device while this happens? Any apps/etc it happens more often than others? Is it connected to 5G or wifi when this occurs? Your usage could be drastically different from the people above who are going crazy.
The phone has no fan and will throttle itself (as has been normal) with the processor/screen brightness etc if it gets too overloaded, with this happening increasing often since the A5X in the iPad 3. If you plug it in, drop it and it gets hot as hell there’s a problem, if your using it it’s probably just hitting the limits of its thermal design and throttling different aspects of the device accordingly. Note the mini has the smallest area of any A14 (or any cutting edge ARM) processor to disperse heat. When Apple says it’s the lightest and smallest 5G device you take hits in certain areas.
Yes, I was using it, that’s how I noticed it was warm and I couldn’t increase the brightness. Was on a phone call last time this happened. It’s connected to my 5G WIFI. Never had that happen on the Max, SE or older iPhones, but the mini is packing a lot in a small size. It also charges super fast in that initial burst which probably uses a bit of power. It wasn’t HOT but pretty warm and then cooled off after I set it down for 10 minutes and I could increase brightness again.

Someone suggested not using the 18 watt charger and see if it stays cooler. Also read that it cools down at 80% charge. So it must be that quick charging boost on the 18 watt that’s doing it. Others have reported it on the 12s. ill keep an eye on it.
 
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one more

macrumors 601
Aug 6, 2015
4,570
5,766
Earth
All iPhones will react the same way to overheating - the screen will dim and you won’t be able to increase the brightness. I had it happen to me while using my iPhone 7 in a car when it was sunny and the phone was plugged in into a 5W USB charger. You just need to figure out if your iPhone use was somewhat extraordinary when it happened. If you were just using it for basic tasks when it dimmed on you, I would contact Apple to double-check.
 

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
May 28, 2005
9,194
3,394
Pennsylvania
I only had my 12 mini a few days before returning it, but I don't recall it ever doing that, and this was while it was getting set up. The one difference is I never had 5g on, but I can't see the flagship feature causing the phone to go haywire if you use it. I'd ask Apple for a new one.
 

macdogpro

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2020
656
494
My mini gets warm when using both 10 watt and 18 watt adapter, but I can still bring up the brightness.
Nevertheless, I only use 5W charger now. Fast enough for my new charging habbit (30%-80% battery level).
 
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DexBell

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Original poster
Oct 23, 2016
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Happened again last night while on the 18 watt charger. All I was doing was scrolling thru Instagram. Started to warm up and then the display dimmed. Doesn’t get brighter than about 25%. Put it down for a few minutes, picked it up, still warm and couldn’t increase brightness. set it down again. About 15 minutes later, picked it up and it had cooled off, was at 68% and the brightness was back to normal. Has anyone tried charging their Mini on an 18 watt or higher and using it as it starts warming up while charging? I think it’s the 18 watt charge. I’m going to try it with the 5 watt tonight and see what happens.
 

Harthag

macrumors 68000
Jun 20, 2009
1,800
2,193
U.S.
Happened again last night while on the 18 watt charger. All I was doing was scrolling thru Instagram. Started to warm up and then the display dimmed. Doesn’t get brighter than about 25%. Put it down for a few minutes, picked it up, still warm and couldn’t increase brightness. set it down again. About 15 minutes later, picked it up and it had cooled off, was at 68% and the brightness was back to normal. Has anyone tried charging their Mini on an 18 watt or higher and using it as it starts warming up while charging? I think it’s the 18 watt charge. I’m going to try it with the 5 watt tonight and see what happens.
Just return it or request an exchange, that is not normal. I had the Mini for a couple of weeks and played some games while plugged in with the 18 watt charger and had no issues.
 
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firoze

macrumors regular
Jul 3, 2011
239
83
Happened again last night while on the 18 watt charger. All I was doing was scrolling thru Instagram. Started to warm up and then the display dimmed. Doesn’t get brighter than about 25%. Put it down for a few minutes, picked it up, still warm and couldn’t increase brightness. set it down again. About 15 minutes later, picked it up and it had cooled off, was at 68% and the brightness was back to normal. Has anyone tried charging their Mini on an 18 watt or higher and using it as it starts warming up while charging? I think it’s the 18 watt charge. I’m going to try it with the 5 watt tonight and see what happens.
I have used my 12 mini with the 18 watt charger and it gets just slightly warm. Your phone does not seem to be normal. You should try to get a replacement or return the phone if possible.
 

debapodd19

macrumors newbie
Aug 4, 2021
1
0
Hi
I have also bought iphone 12 mini and I am facing the same issue while phone is getting warm. Were you able to fix your issue?
 
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