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The iPhone 12 mini is set to be the smallest iPhone in many years, with a screen size of just 5.4 inches and a smaller body size than anything we’ve seen since the original iPhone SE. While fans of smaller form factor devices have yearned for a small, modern iPhone for years, there are five notable features that you will give up if you get the iPhone 12 mini, if you believe the current rumors about the upcoming lineup.
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Display technology
The iPhone 12 mini is expected to have a flexible OLED display with built-in Y-OCTA touch, for richer colors and more lifelike blacks than an LCD.
However, the display of the iPhone 12 mini is expected to have some minor drawbacks. The iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max will reportedly have 10-bit color for more vibrant, lifelike colors, and a richer variety of color gradations, as well as XDR classification.
Also, while rumors about some iPhone 12 models having a 120Hz ProMotion display have been very mixed, rumors that the iPhone 12 mini does not have a 120Hz display have been consistent. If the feature appears for the iPhone 12 line, it is likely reserved for the Pro models or even only the Pro Max model.
LiDAR scanner
The iPhone 12 Pro models are rumored to have a LiDAR scanner, like the one that debuted on the iPad Pro earlier this year.
The iPad Pro’s LiDAR scanner uses reflected light to measure the distance from the sensor to surrounding objects that are up to five meters away. Essentially, it is capable of mapping the environment around it at the photon level at speeds of nanoseconds. The rumored LiDAR Scanner for the iPhone 12 Pro is likely to work similarly, if not identically. As a smaller and lower-cost non-Pro model, the iPhone 12 mini is not expected to have the LiDAR scanner.
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Telephoto
Like the iPhone 11, the iPhone 12 tenga mini is expected to have two camera lenses on the rear; a wide angle lens and an ultra wide angle lens. However, the iPhone 12 mini loses the telephoto lens, which is the third lens in the high-end Pro models.
The top-end 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max is rumored to be getting sensor shift image stabilization technology, which could bring image stabilization to the ultra-wide-angle lens of those devices. Sensor shift technology allows optical image stabilization to be applied to the camera’s sensor, rather than the individual lenses. This feature is not expected to leak into the iPhone 12 mini.
The iPhone 12 mini can still benefit from Apple’s new “high-end” lens assemblies and improved Smart HDR for better low-light performance.
Battery capacity
As the smallest device in the iPhone 12 line, the iPhone 12 mini is also expected to have the smallest battery. The certifications have suggested that the battery capacity of the iPhone 12 mini is 2227 mAh. Apple’s current smallest iPhone, the 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro, has a battery capacity of 3,046 mAh, which makes the capacity of the iPhone 12 mini 819 mAh smaller.
Although the A14 Bionic processor and OLED display are likely to improve energy efficiency, the fundamental limits of battery size on the iPhone 12 mini are likely to result in shorter overall battery life.
The 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max is expected to have a much higher capacity of 3,687 mAh, so users concerned about battery life would certainly benefit from a larger model.
5G faster
Rumors suggest that the iPhone 12 Pro Max will also be the only model to have a faster 5G mmWave. The 5G sub-6GHz, which is the slowest but most widespread form of 5G, is expected to be present in the iPhone 12 mini. Only the largest iPhone in the lineup supposedly has the internal space to accommodate the antenna design needed to implement mmWave right now, along with the larger battery needed for its highest power usage.
Despite these missing features, the iPhone 12 mini is expected to get the latest A14 Bionic processor, an OLED screen and a new square design. For many fans of small phones, the iPhone 12 mini will be the device they have been waiting for a long time.
To learn more about what to expect from the 2020 iPhone models, be sure to check out our dedicated roundup or read our quick roundup of Ten Things You Should Know About the iPhone 12.
