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Phones · Apple iPhone

Apple iPhone mini

33owners with an opinion
69%of verdicts positive
22/10positive/negative since 2024
2 yrslongest happy owner
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for portability and battery; criticized for display and ease of use.

What owners wrote

Likes itOwned 5 yearsStill going
Many dumbphones only support technologies (2G, 3G, etc.) that are actively being deprecated at the moment. If you are using a modern one, you still get rid of many useful things like maps, Signal and WhatsApp (the latter I've found is sometimes critical for interacting with some companies that have migrated their support there, like my ISP). Are there dumbphones that support just those two features? If not, then I don't feel like moving over to one is realistic. Rather, just don't install whatever application is distracting you, and try simply turning notifications off. I still can't believe how many people simply don't have the willpower to do this. On the battery life point, when you remove a lot of this cruft, you'd be surprised how much gain back as well, since you're also not staring at the thing with the screen on all the time. I'm on a 5 year old iPhone mini that I'm still regularly getting two days out of. Another pet peeve: graphs should have axes that start at zero, or clearly point out why they are zoomed in. It's to easy to mislead readers otherwise, and great for making something sensational.
Likes itOwned 2 years
Any iPhone in an Otterbox case. Don’t do fanny pack. Do cross body bag with the bag on chest. This is not something you want to go cheap on. iPhones are flat out better hardware than everything shown. I went down the Android route for Omnipod/G6. Was horrible UX and unreliable. (For a while, the OmniPod app would only work on <10 Android phone models. Ugh). The requirement he missed is Dexcom Remote. That’s not a “cheap” phone thing. We’re on year two of an iPhone Mini in an Otterbox case. The Android phone didn’t make it 9 months.
Doesn’t like itOwned 2 years
I’m 2y into having an iPhone, generally liking it better but autocorrect alone keeps me on the edge of switching back to android, that’s how bad it is. It’s not even about comparing to android, it’s just that iOS is bad. If I had a bigger phone I’d turn it off entirely but on a mini it’s juuuust useful enough that it makes me want to throw my phone against the wall _less_ than if it was off. I honestly want to have a coffee chat with the PM in charge of autocorrect at apple, I need to understand what the hell they are thinking!
Doesn’t like it
I kept an iPhone Mini until an App I need for work started consuming so much memory it became unusable on it (iOS would kill it after 15s). Even then, I raised ticket after ticket with support to get them to fix their app – which they did, then slipped again, for months. Now I own a 17 pro, which feels like a brick in comparison but has 12 GB of RAM instead of 4. I really miss my mini.
Likes it
I think we're reaching a level of maturity in tech that makes us question it for the same reasons it's great. I think it's healthy for a society to question everything, as long as it doesn't get us stuck, but rather helps us conciously choose our path. We have more options than ever. I used to be on social media all the time and always want the next shiny thing in tech. And I enjoyed that. But now I can choose to not be on social media and be on a basic iPhone mini. And I'm enjoying that now. All is to reiterate: we can choose our path, and that applies to many verticals.
Doesn’t like it
Fr. There was that small window back in the early ‘10s where data was slow and expensive in India and 4g wasn’t yet pervasive in China. Execs were still receptive to my pitches that we needed to spend some engineering cycles on rework to improve initial load times / weight after showing them simulations of absurdly slow first paint / first content over simulated 2g/3g from India / China data centers. Once 5g became pervasive and data cheap, no one gaf about a cold load weight fitting on a floppy. I’m still clutching my iphone mini, which after ios 26 just boggs down under the absurd weight of many pages and turns in to a space heater before reloading entire page b/c of error. No need for forced obsolescence when the enshittification of basic websites takes care of that for you. :-/
Likes it
As a mini fan, I don't know when I'll get my next iPhone. I've tried (and returned) the 16 and the Air. I don't want a phone that I can't type on one-handed, and for me that means sticking with the mini. I hate that Apple is no longer providing security updates on iOS18 except to devices that cannot run 26 (like the X). Everyone says that 26 is lousy on all but the newest devices, so I am not going to update. But that means that my new AirPods don't have Find My, and I can't use the new AirTags either. Ticky-tack moves like this tell me that Apple knows adoption is slow, and they're doing everything they can to force people to upgrade OS (or device). For us small-phone lovers, it's a no-win situation.
Likes it
While I agree with the spirit of the thread and dearly love my mini, I think this reasoning doesn’t account for a substantial reduction in bezels: my iPhone 5S had more than a centimetre of black bars above and below its 4" display (altogether it was 5.4" in diagonal), I bet those phablets you mentioned had even bigger bezels and were closer to modern 8.5" phones.
Neutral
Current one was 150 quid off Ebay, I've also used backmarket. Last time I had a "flagship" phone it got stolen out my hand. The screen was also expensive to replace. If I drop this its no big deal (the back is plastic anyway). It also comes in a fun colour so its not just another black rectangle. I'll replace it with the Jolla phone when that arrives.
Likes it
>> android also doesn't have the same polish as iOS As someone who switched from using Android for many years to iOS for the iPhone Mini, this seems to be all about what you're used to. The lack of polish on iOS for many features, notifications and quick settings first among them, makes me crazy but not enough to deal with a huge phone. Android's had the notification shade with integrated settings since just about day one and it's a killer feature.
Doesn’t like it
Small phones are dead as a mainstream product, sure. Screenreaders are also dead as a mainstream product. Phones with a German language setting are dead as a mainstream product. However, there are various people with severe disabilities like being blind, being german, and having small hands, so we should produce phones that are appropriate for all of those groups, and yet only the former two are serviced (even though there are more people with small hands than there are germans). Sent from an iPhone mini, which is already about an inch too big for my hands.
Likes it
True, also mini phones are usually of an incredible value, you can buy them very cheap. Because, surprise, actually not everyone wants them. And they are seen as crippled gimp phones. E.g. a child had this phone, then pressed their parents to buy them a normal phone. That’s how I ended up having my mini, for basically bananas. Was upgrading from SE1, so it was still a bigger phone. Yet, I’m not willing to go back, modern iPhone is still better than an obsolete one. Almost. Some bugs aren’t there in the old one.
Doesn’t like it
I used to take my phone with me all the time (I used to have an iphone mini). The current models are too big. They are nice when i’m on the sofa surfing the web, but a hassle to take then in my pocket
Likes it
I bought a mini because a phone broke and was not immediately fixable, and I just needed something to get me going. And... I love it and use it all the time. Into the pocket it goes, great for going out. I would buy an iphone mini 16/17/18 no questions asked. When it comes to the marketing side of things, I think back to a story where one of the soft drink companies tried to find the best soft drink taste. They found out that they couldn't optimize for the one true taste because... different people had different favorites.
Doesn’t like it
Tha sad truth is that small screens don't work anymore, because apps are all tailored for bigger screens. I noticed this when I had an iPhone mini. It just did not work right. The UIs that are supposed to be surrounding the main part just cover too much. The range is from mildly annoying to completely blocked. Really sad, because the device was physically very practical, and I don't really need such a big screen, just smart UIs like we used to have, that don't cram the screen full of every feature of every PM that ever worked at the company.
Doesn’t like it
I had a couple of Max models but went back down to regular size because it was too big. However, Mini is just too small for me to handle well any more. I make too many mistakes on the smaller on-screen keyboard, and forget reading on it without putting on my glasses first. I could't care less what size other people use, and I use social media maybe half an hour a day, if that. The regular sized iPhones are the happy size for my older eyes and thumbs.
Likes it
The original iPhone design was even smaller than today’s iPhone Mini, built for a similar use case—compact functionality. Isn’t it a bit ironic that the market has now shifted towards feature-heavy, oversized phones? While I understand that larger phones do offer certain advantages, one could argue that the push towards “bigger is better” is just a marketing-driven trend, rather than a necessity. This focus on size and feature count could apply to any brand, not just Apple. Regarding the battery size. Never felt it as well. Usage completely natural and never experience an issue with it. No need more.
Doesn’t like it
The icons sizes all shrank significantly with no option to increase the size. Combined with a ton of space on either side of the icons, now they are icons are tiny, especially on an iPhone mini. Also, no one expects a + icon to mean "organize". Sometimes the + icon is not even tappable due to other random stuff that gets jammed up there, like And the new power button doesn't do anything when you tap it, only when you hold it. No feedback at all. That said, I do appreciate the ability to move the icons anywhere (to put important ones closer to the bottom). Now, can we add the ability to add some of these to the lock screen without using 3rd party apps?
Likes it
They can pry my iPhone Mini from my cold, dead hands. I mean, what reason do I have to upgrade, even if I wanted a phone the size of a skateboard? Better camera? Eh...I'm trying really hard make that a reason to layout $800, but I'm failing. Faster chip? My phone isn't slow the way it is now. I don't do iOS work anymore, so there goes that excuse for an upgrade. And let's face it: the novelty of smartphones has worn off. The iPhone was released seventeen years ago. It's not awesome new tech, it's the appliance that I carry around so that $PEOPLE_IMPORTANT_TO_ME can get hold of me, and I can check the weather. I'm otherwise about as excited about a new one as I am about a new washer. (Well, probably less excited, because our new washer/dryer all-in-one is awesome.) A top-level comment says battery. When Apple will no longer plop a new battery in my Mini for $80, I guess that's when I'll upgrade. Or Apple could, you know, make another Mini.
Likes it
As is most things in life, the balance is the hardest thing to achieve. I’d think of giving up my smartphone, but that’d mean I’d not be able to use WhatsApp to communicate with family and friends that are on it. Heck the parents group at my kids school is on WhatsApp. I’m not going to make everyone switch to “this other special” app. I gotta be where others are in this context. Another is Maps - it is modern convenience that is hard to live without. Not only do I get turn-by-turn navigation, but I can quickly check whether the shop I want to go to is open or not. No, a Garmin device on a car doesn’t really solve that elegantly. Thirdly, majority of my actions are on a web browser and it often happens when I’m mobile. Sure, I could remember things and then find them when I’m at my desk - yeah, I’m not going to remember that.. Fourth - my phone is my camera. I have pictures of my family memories, daily utility stuff.. even quickly taking a picture of a design I see somewhere as inspiration to stash it in my Notes. I can’t imagine giving up that convenience. I’m however conscious of the bad effects of having the social drug on my hands. I don’t have Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, games or the like Apps on my phone. My battery usage report says 70% of the time was spent on web browser, and my mini iPhone lasts 1.5 days on a full charge.