Used i-phone - SE 3rd Gen, 12 mini or 13 mini?

[StudentPolitician]

Just wondering if any owners of the above phones could recommend one above the other - my most important consideration is longevity of battery and operating system, as I am a 'keep phone until it dies' person. Buying used as can't afford a new 'un. A better camera is a bonus but I don't demand very much from my phone. Definitely want an I-phone as I can never get on with the OH's Android. Thank you to anyone who replies!

Will just try bumping once before accepting that my question is far too boring, and going away.😂

I have a 12. The battery is pretty good, definitely a lot better than my old one (which I think was an 8). It's not a mini though not sure if that makes any difference.

Definitely takes better photos than the 8 did

Thank you for replying! I do have an 8 at the moment as it happens. The battery I assume will always be less good on the mini versions but as long as it's better than my current one it should be good enough.

I havé a 13 mini and everything about it is amazing other than the battery, camera, screen, processor. But it only lasts till mid afternoon before needing charged

I got a good deal on a 12 mini from Phones Direct just after Christmas. 256Gb. When it arrived I was a little worried as the battery optimisation said that it had max charge of 84% whereas my old iPhone 8 was still at 90%. I've been using it and it's been fine and holding its charge all day. The camera on the 12 is much better than the 8 and it has Face ID which I now prefer to Touch ID. I've even got used to not having the home button. One thing I'm finding a fiddle though (and it's probably just me) but when you use Apple Pay with Face ID you put the phone on the reader, double click the side button for the card you want and then you have to take it off and do the Face ID then put it back on the reader. It felt quite clumsy to begin with but I think I might have the hang of it now 😂

Oh and I got a refurb

Have you tried going into the Apple site and used their compare functionality to see the 3 phones side by side (on a PC) and then you can see the differences between battery life / cameras / chips etc?

I have a iPhone 13 Mini and love it, but my previous one was a first gen iphone 5SE so it was a bit step up for me!!! Love the bigger screen space you get now there is no home button and the face id. Camera is ok, but nothing like the pro. I don't use the phone much (use ipad when at home) and it goes a couple of days without needing a charge.

At its crudest a 13 mini should give you one more year's working life starting from now until it stops being supported than a 12 mini. Assuming 6 years support then that would give you 3 and a half years for the 12 or 4 and a half years for the 13, ie the 13 gives you about 30% more time than the 12. On top of that the 13 will be better quality, but there's a risk that it might break in the meantime so you don't actually get the benefit of that theoretical extra year.

Look at the difference in price and decide whether it's worth it.

Thank you for all this advice, really useful.

I'll try the compare feature on the Apple site - thanks, I hadn't thought of that as I've been looking at 2nd hand.

Current phone is needing to be charged every few hours, that's even with not using it - I've switched off Bluetooth etc. but it just seems to drain when it's doing nothing - I guess the battery is just old, but it was never what I'd call great to start with and seemed to lose a little every time there was a software update.

I do have a proper mirrorless camera if I am going out specially to take photographs, but I'd like something a bit better to capture unexpected picture opportunities - the rear camera is the one that matters to me, as I don't mind at all if any selfies are low res 😁