Join us while we pit two of Apple’s latest smartphone devices head-to-head.
iPhone 12 Mini vs iPhone SE 2020 – What Sets them Apart?
With the arrival of the iPhone SE in April of 2020 and the iPhone 12 Mini in October of 2020, you may be wondering: which of these two compact smartphones is the better option for you? What are the similarities, and what are the differences? Well, this seems like a good place to start, so we will now fire off some quick bullet points to showcase the main similarities and differences between the two models.
iPhone SE 2020 –
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Smaller screen than the iPhone 12 Mini
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Cheaper than the iPhone 12 Mini
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4.7 inch LCD screen
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4G
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A13 Bionic Chip
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Single 12 MP rear camera
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7 MP front-facing camera
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Comes with either 64GB storage, 128GB storage, or 256GB storage.
iPhone 12 Mini –
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Larger display screen of the two
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The more expensive of the two
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5.1 inch LCD screen
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5G capable
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A14 Bionic chip
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Dual 12MP rear cameras
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12 MP front-facing camera
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Comes with either 64GB storage, 128GB storage, or 256GB storage.
iPhone 12 Mini vs iPhone SE 2020 – The Design & Display
Let’s take a look at the iPhone SE 2020 first. The display is a 4.7 inch LCD, 1334 x 750 pixels. The device itself is actually larger than that of the iPhone 12, but the screen is smaller. The iPhone SE 2020 has a pixel density of 326ppi.
The iPhone SE 2020’s dimensions are 5.45 x 2.65 x 0.29 inches, and it weighs 148 grams.
The iPhone 12 Mini has a 5.4-inch display screen yet is also the smaller of the two devices. The screen is made from ceramic Gorilla Glass (check it out on Wiki here), which has been shown to be up to four times tougher than regular LCD screen tasks in drop tests. This means the iPhone 12 Mini is much more durable and feels it too! The screen has a pixel density of 476ppi, meaning it will be clearer and more defined than that of the iPhone SE 2020.
The dimensions of the iPhone 12 Mini are 5.18 x 2.53 x 0.29 inches and weighs just 135 grams.
The design differences between the iPhone 12 Mini and the iPhone SE 2020 are obvious even at a glance. The iPhone 12 Mini looks modern, sleek, and flat-edged. The iPhone SE 2020 is a little chunkier, with bigger bezels and a physical home button at the bottom center.
Both of these devices are waterproof, although it is the iPhone 12 Mini that comes out on top (rated IP68 – waterproof up to 4 meters for 30 minutes). The iPhone SE 2020 is rated IP67, which means it is waterproof up to a maximum depth of one meter for thirty minutes.
iPhone 12 Mini vs iPhone SE 2020 – Processing Power
When it comes to processing power, there is one clear winner also (you guessed it) the iPhone 12 Mini. This is to be expected, as not only is it the newest of the two devices, but it comes packed with Apple’s latest bionic chip – the A14. The A14 chip is faster, more powerful, and more efficient than any chip that has come before it. Although the difference may not be immediately clear when using the two devices side-by-side, it becomes much more obvious when running multiple safari windows at once or apps that require a lot of processing power. For you technical whizzes out there, the A13 chip has 8.5 billion transistors, and the A14 chip has 11.8 billion transistors. You can see performance tests for both the A13 and the A14 here.
iPhone 12 Mini vs iPhone SE 2020 – The Cameras
If you hadn’t have guessed it already, the iPhone 12 Mini beats the iPhone SE 2020 once again when it comes to cameras, offering dual 12 MP rear-facing cameras in comparison to the SE 2020’s single rear camera and a 12 MP front-facing camera, in comparison to the SE 2020s 7 MP front-facing camera. Both are capable of producing excellent photographs, but the numbers speak for themselves.
iPhone 12 Mini vs iPhone SE 2020 – Battery & Storage
Both the battery on the iPhone 12 Mini and the iPhone SE 2020 appear to last approximately the same amount of time (with the SE 2020 lasting roughly twenty minutes long). Apple does not release precise statistics for these tests, so it can be hard to tell what their official view on this is.
As far as storage options go, both the iPhone 12 Mini and the iPhone SE 2020 are available for purchase with either 64 GB storage, 128 GB storage, or 256 GB storage.
iPhone 12 Mini vs iPhone SE 2020 – The Price
Now comes the interesting part. The iPhone SE 2020 comes in roughly three hundred dollars cheaper than the iPhone 12 Mini. If you’ve been following the article closely so far, then the reasons for this should be fairly obvious by now. The iPhone SE 2020 is available from as low as $399, whereas the iPhone 12 Mini can be picked up for prices from $699.
The cheapest way to buy either of these devices is to buy one carrier-locked and then get it unlocked online for free from a third-party service. There are many out there, but you do have to be a little careful when choosing one. A great, free, and fast one that we have found is iPhoneIMEI.net. You can use this website to get your iPhone unlocked to any carrier absolutely free in minutes online. If you happen to purchase one of these devices second-hand but find it is still locked to the previous user’s iCloud, you can also get that unlocked fast here.
There is one thing that we have yet to mention, however, and that is, of course, 5G connectivity. A major difference between these two models is the inclusion of the 5G capability in the iPhone 12 Mini. Although 5G is still in the process of being rolled out, it will be capable of achieving faster speeds than the SE 2020s 4G and will likely be supported for much longer to come.
iPhone 12 Mini vs iPhone SE 2020 – Verdict
Both the iPhone 12 Mini and the iPhone SE 2020 are great devices, but of course, there can only be one winner, and that winner is clear: the iPhone 12 Mini. The iPhone 12 Mini is the latest, more powerful device out of the two. However, if you are on a budget and have an older model, the ridiculously low price of the iPhone SE 2020 is too good to pass up.