iPhone 12 mini Upgraded from SE 1 to 12 Mini - My Experience

[Alpha Centauri]

There will definitely be more heat with a 20w charger, just touch the phone during charging you will see yourself. Using fast chargers excessively will obviously degrade the battery a bit faster, thats just the law of thermodynamics we cant escape it. A good balance is using a 2.1 amp charger, not that much heat and charges faster than a 5w, or use 5w overnight. The most important thing to remember though is we can change the battery for around $£50, so nothing to stress over really.

Makes sense. I've only own the 5W from the SE so cannot check the thermal increase with a 20W that I was considering buying. Usual habit is overnight charging but for an upcoming holiday am looking at options.

On that note, got a thread on the Apple Battery Pack concurrently running if people have thoughts on it. Also for the holiday.

Yes, made the decision not to have AC+, instead, new battery transplant in 2yrs (or when needed). Not waiting 5 yrs this time as I did with the SE.

 

[IJBrekke]

Not bad, I've a 13 Mini brought not long ago. I'm charging it overnight (mostly) with the 5W charger from my OG SE, do you know if there's much of a thermal increase doing the same but with a 20W charger? Have Battery Optimisation also running (mainly).

To be honest, I just charge it when it needs charging, let it do its thing. 5w overnight on a wireless pad with optimization turned on, wireless charging on my car phone mount, and occasionally plugging in. I travel with a single 20w brick for all devices and if it has made a negative impact, I haven’t noticed. Unlike the 12 mini, battery life and health seem to be perfectly normal with the 13.

Plan on swapping it at the two year mark regardless, as your later posts alluded to. It’s relatively cheap and easy peace of mind.

 

[Andeddu]

There will definitely be more heat with a 20w charger, just touch the phone during charging you will see yourself. Using fast chargers excessively will obviously degrade the battery a bit faster, thats just the law of thermodynamics we cant escape it. A good balance is using a 2.1 amp charger, not that much heat and charges faster than a 5w, or use 5w overnight. The most important thing to remember though is we can change the battery for around $£50, so nothing to stress over really.

Too many people on here are weird about battery replacements. I see no reason to stress over battery health when you can book your phone into Apple after 2 years of use, pay a small fee, and receive a brand new battery. So much pointless discussion here on charging habits, wireless charging, fast charging, etc… Here’s a spoiler: your battery will go bad no matter what you do, so just enjoy your phone, don’t stress over battery health and book a replacement when the battery goes bad. This is taking first world problems to a whole new level, lol. People need to get a grip of themselves, for real.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

To be honest, I just charge it when it needs charging, let it do its thing. 5w overnight on a wireless pad with optimization turned on, wireless charging on my car phone mount, and occasionally plugging in. I travel with a single 20w brick for all devices and if it has made a negative impact, I haven’t noticed. Unlike the 12 mini, battery life and health seem to be perfectly normal with the 13.

Plan on swapping it at the two year mark regardless, as your later posts alluded to. It’s relatively cheap and easy peace of mind.

Yup. Now I've gone and spent $$ on the 20W charger for my upcoming holiday. The 5W from the OG SE is over 6 yrs old and will remain for overnight charging. For other times I got the Mag Safe battery pack and in combination can reverse charge the 13 Mini or sit the Airpod case onto it. Reverse charging the (Airpods) on the Mini would have been nice also, but not to be..for now

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Too many people on here are weird about battery replacements. I see no reason to stress over battery health when you can book your phone into Apple after 2 years of use, pay a small fee, and receive a brand new battery. So much pointless discussion here on charging habits, wireless charging, fast charging, etc… Here’s a spoiler: your battery will go bad no matter what you do, so just enjoy your phone, don’t stress over battery health and book a replacement when the battery goes bad. This is taking first world problems to a whole new level, lol. People need to get a grip of themselves, for real.

but then, what else would we discuss, argue, talk or get suspended about on these threads

 

[Andeddu]

but then, what else would we discuss, argue, talk or get suspended about on these threads

Yep. It’s the most contentious topic I’ve seen with people arguing over charging routines and things like wireless charging. It really doesn’t matter because the difference is reasonably negligible unless you centre your entire life around when you can charge your phone and by how much.

 

[kpcboopathi]

Too many people on here are weird about battery replacements. I see no reason to stress over battery health when you can book your phone into Apple after 2 years of use, pay a small fee, and receive a brand new battery. So much pointless discussion here on charging habits, wireless charging, fast charging, etc… Here’s a spoiler: your battery will go bad no matter what you do, so just enjoy your phone, don’t stress over battery health and book a replacement when the battery goes bad. This is taking first world problems to a whole new level, lol. People need to get a grip of themselves, for real.

In my country, a battery replacement cost is almost 25% of 12 Mini's price including tax, fee etc at Apple. Also, we hear some reports saying the replacement batteries don't last like original. So, if any charging habit increases the life, there is no wrong in following it. Ex: Using 5W charger for overnight charging rather than 20W or wireless. There is no change in regular habit, but if 5W helps in battery health we can follow it.

Also, it's not just about hitting 80% and replace the battery. Some phone's battery health will impact the user even at ~90% ranges considerably (My 12 Mini ). In these cases, a change in charging habit helps a lot.

 

[Andeddu]

In my country, a battery replacement cost is almost 25% of 12 Mini's price including tax, fee etc at Apple. Also, we hear some reports saying the replacement batteries don't last like original. So, if any charging habit increases the life, there is no wrong in following it. Ex: Using 5W charger for overnight charging rather than 20W or wireless. There is no change in regular habit, but if 5W helps in battery health we can follow it.

Also, it's not just about hitting 80% and replace the battery. Some phone's battery health will impact the user even at ~90% ranges considerably (My 12 Mini ). In these cases, a change in charging habit helps a lot.

Yes, I agree that a 5w overnight charge is not something that would infringe upon your lifestyle. I used to do exactly that along with occasional wireless charging. Where I live, a battery replacement for a 12 Mini costs around 35% the value of current market value.

I still think it’s well worth doing as long as you plan on keeping the phone for a minimum of 4 years.

I just cannot understand those who obsess over battery life and incessantly try to keep their battery charge between 40%-80%. I think 99.9% of people do the sensible thing which is an overnight charge. I have both a 20w and 5w charger but the 20w charger was more for a quick charge during the day as the 12 Mini had an insufficient battery life to last the full day.

I have a 13 now which is 100% wireless. I plugged it in once with the fast charger the day I got it but have been only using the MagSafe wireless charger since. I’ll be interested in my battery life in 2 years as it’s a 15w charger which might degrade my battery slightly faster than usual.

 

[platinumaqua]

I made the same switch (the green was pretty and the extra storage at 128 GB is nice), but I was more underwhelmed with the 12 mini that my primary phone is still the old SE1.

Annoyances with the 12 mini:

• Screen is too big for one handed use. Slightly too wide and way too tall that I need to use reachability
• Lack of headphone jack
• The primary camera lens is the lower lens. Combined with the camera bump, I find myself accidentally smudging the camera too often
• Face ID is annoying when wearing a mask or laying on the bed sideways
• Too much camera post processing
• I don't need the extra wide lens, considering it doesn't even have auto focus. I wish they didn't include it to save a couple of grams and increase the battery size.
• Battery health is already dropping to 88%. I replaced my SE1's battery shortly before I bought the 12 mini, and that battery still has 95% battery health
• Don't really care for OLED due to burn-in risk. LCD's black level never bothered me anyway

The things I like about the 12 mini are the color and the optical stabilization. Battery easily lasts the whole day unless I use FaceTime.