iPhone 12 mini has 2,227 mAh battery, iPhone 12 has 2,815 mAh battery

AppleInsider · October 16, 2020 7:26PM

Apple's slate of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro models have gained regulatory approval in Brazil, and new government documents have revealed their battery capacities.

Credit: Apple

The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro became available for preorder on Friday, Oct. 16 in the U.S., but Apple is already in the process of bringing the devices to other markets. As an example, new regulatory documents from Brazil's ANATEL agency have been unearthed by Technoblog.

Those documents reveal that the iPhone 12 mini has a battery capacity of 2,227 mAh and the iPhone 12 has a battery capacity of 2,815 mAh.

ANATEL, Brazil's equivalent to the Federal Communications Commission, also approved the batteries in the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max devices. However, capacities for those models aren't currently clear.

Apple doesn't list the battery capacities for its iPhones devices. Instead, the company lists estimated battery life. The company says the iPhone 12 mini, as an example, can last through up to 15 hours of video playback.

The documents also reveal that the iPhone 12 models, as expected, willy only support 4G and sub-6GHz 5G. Faster mmWave support is available on all four iPhone 12 models, but only in the U.S.

In addition to device specifications, Technoblog's find also suggests that Apple will produce iPhone 12 Pro units in India and Brazil. Apple currently manufactures iPhone models in both countries, and there are already rumors that iPhone 12 models produced in India could ship by 2021.

It isn't clear when iPhone 12 models will begin shipping to Brazil and other markets beyond the U.S. Apple is launching on Oct. 16 in more than 30 countries including the U.S. A second wave of debuts in regions such as India and South Korea slated for Oct. 30.

Anilu_777 · October 16, 2020 7:59PM

MmWave is basically useless and I wish people would stop marketing it. Only if you’re right next to the tower and facing it you’ll get those advertised speeds. If you turn or go inside, bam they’re gone.

gmgravytrain · October 16, 2020 8:05PM

A 2,227 mAh battery will likely only last a few hours of normal use. The mini is a nice size, but I could never deal with that small capacity battery. I guess it could be good for some people, but with an A14 Bionic, they'd want to use it a lot and the battery will just poop out halfway through the day. That's just crazy. I would only be satisfied with the iPhone 12 Pro Max simply because that is the largest capacity battery available.

neilm · October 16, 2020 8:37PM

gmgravytrain said:

A 2,227 mAh battery will likely only last a few hours of normal use. The mini is a nice size, but I could never deal with that small capacity battery. I guess it could be good for some people, but with an A14 Bionic, they'd want to use it a lot and the battery will just poop out halfway through the day. That's just crazy. I would only be satisfied with the iPhone 12 Pro Max simply because that is the largest capacity battery available.

Smaller screen also equals lower power consumption, other things being equal.

A little early for you to be making assumptions about battery run time, much less about other people's device usage patterns.

ltniz · October 16, 2020 9:04PM

I’m going to upgrade to 12 mini from SE 1st gen which has 1624 mAh battery, so 2227 mAh battery seems generous.

Eric_WVGG · October 16, 2020 10:09PM

neilm said:

gmgravytrain said:

A 2,227 mAh battery will likely only last a few hours of normal use. The mini is a nice size, but I could never deal with that small capacity battery. I guess it could be good for some people, but with an A14 Bionic, they'd want to use it a lot and the battery will just poop out halfway through the day. That's just crazy. I would only be satisfied with the iPhone 12 Pro Max simply because that is the largest capacity battery available.

Smaller screen also equals lower power consumption, other things being equal.

ehhhh not really. The Max screens is only 5% larger than the regular Pro, the battery is 30% larger, and the battery life is 25% more. The larger screen might take a trivially larger amount of power (again, that screen is only 5% larger), but the battery is a LOT bigger and that gets turned into time, not screen.

There's a lot of speculation that the Android world kicked off the phablet thing because they simply couldn't make a phone or OS that was as power-efficient as the iPhone 3gs, so instead they went big, which gave them equivalent battery time (thanks to much larger batteries) at the cost of only a little more power requirements (the screen doesn't make much of a difference.)

All of which is to say, I expect the battery life of the Mini to be really bad. Which is fine, I don't sit around glued to it all day.

commentzilla · October 16, 2020 10:17PM

Eric_WVGG said:

neilm said:

gmgravytrain said:

A 2,227 mAh battery will likely only last a few hours of normal use. The mini is a nice size, but I could never deal with that small capacity battery. I guess it could be good for some people, but with an A14 Bionic, they'd want to use it a lot and the battery will just poop out halfway through the day. That's just crazy. I would only be satisfied with the iPhone 12 Pro Max simply because that is the largest capacity battery available.

Smaller screen also equals lower power consumption, other things being equal.

ehhhh not really. The Max screens is only 5% larger than the regular Pro, the battery is 30% larger, and the battery life is 25% more. The larger screen might take a trivially larger amount of power (again, that screen is only 5% larger), but the battery is a LOT bigger and that gets turned into time, not screen.

There's a lot of speculation that the Android world kicked off the phablet thing because they simply couldn't make a phone or OS that was as power-efficient as the iPhone 3gs, so instead they went big, which gave them equivalent battery time (thanks to much larger batteries) at the cost of only a little more power requirements (the screen doesn't make much of a difference.)

All of which is to say, I expect the battery life of the Mini to be really bad. Which is fine, I don't sit around glued to it all day.

I'm guessing the Mini will have about the same battery life as the iPhone SE. They have the same battery capacity but the Mini has OLED screen and a 5nm chip to offset a slightly large screen. I don't play games or watch lots of video on my iPhone so I expect it to last all day.

AF_Hitt · October 16, 2020 10:53PM

gmgravytrain said:

A 2,227 mAh battery will likely only last a few hours of normal use. The mini is a nice size, but I could never deal with that small capacity battery. I guess it could be good for some people, but with an A14 Bionic, they'd want to use it a lot and the battery will just poop out halfway through the day. That's just crazy. I would only be satisfied with the iPhone 12 Pro Max simply because that is the largest capacity battery available.

Then you’re calling Apple liars with their battery claims. The 12 mini gets two hours more than the SE and two hours less than the standard 12 (and 11). Seems like a pretty good battery life considering the size of the device.

mobird · October 16, 2020 11:18PM

I would prefer that the 12 Mini be available in Stainless Steel.

melgross · October 17, 2020 12:03AM

It would be better for people to wait until the reviews are out before making silly statements about how bad battery life will be. Apple is known to be pretty accurate about battery life, more so than others.

wood1208 · October 17, 2020 3:20AM

Choices brings confusion. Many who wanted smaller iPhone got iPhone 12 Mini than want extra 2 hours battery so end up buying larger iPhone 12. I think Apple nailed sizes,features and price for iPhone 12 lineup. Now may be needed is iPhone SE3 with touchid on power button.

macgui · October 17, 2020 3:32AM

neilm said:

gmgravytrain said:

A 2,227 mAh battery will likely only last a few hours of normal use. The mini is a nice size, but I could never deal with that small capacity battery. I guess it could be good for some people, but with an A14 Bionic, they'd want to use it a lot and the battery will just poop out halfway through the day. That's just crazy. I would only be satisfied with the iPhone 12 Pro Max simply because that is the largest capacity battery available.

Smaller screen also equals lower power consumption, other things being equal.

A little early for you to be making assumptions about battery run time, much less about other people's device usage patterns.

Bingo.

melgross said:

It would be better for people to wait until the reviews are out before making silly statements about how bad battery life will be. Apple is known to be pretty accurate about battery life, more so than others.

Bingo, again.
Also, as these are OLED screens, there are potentially more active LEDs to use up battery, but also Dark mode on an OLED screen will use less battery than Dark mode on an LCD screen. So I look forward to seeing people's hands on reviews of battery life.

seanismorris · October 17, 2020 5:06AM

Anilu_777 said:

MmWave is basically useless and I wish people would stop marketing it. Only if you’re right next to the tower and facing it you’ll get those advertised speeds. If you turn or go inside, bam they’re gone.

Without the speeds reported using it 5G isn’t that special. It should probably be called 4.5G.

avon b7 · October 17, 2020 7:19AM

seanismorris said:

Anilu_777 said:

MmWave is basically useless and I wish people would stop marketing it. Only if you’re right next to the tower and facing it you’ll get those advertised speeds. If you turn or go inside, bam they’re gone.

Without the speeds reported using it 5G isn’t that special. It should probably be called 4.5G.

4.5G is what LTE has been for a couple of years now.

fred1 · October 17, 2020 3:26PM

Any idea why Apple doesn’t make known battery sizes? It seems like something people want (and deserve) to know.

melgross · October 17, 2020 4:00PM

fred1 said:

Any idea why Apple doesn’t make known battery sizes? It seems like something people want (and deserve) to know.

Nobody “deserves” to know any of the specs. You can’t go by battery size to directly estimate battery life. That’s why Apple gives a much more useful set of battery life specs. By comparing them model to model, and year to year, you know what to expect. Battery size isn’t helpful. We also know that iPhones need a substantially smaller battery than comparable Android phones for the same battery life. That’s mainly due to the known inefficiency of Android, due to decisions Google made way back in the development, which they’re finding very difficult to alter now.

also look at reviews at reliable sites such as Arstechnica and Anandtech. They have comparative battery life charts. Additionally, they make mention of the fact that Apple’s battery life specs are more accurate than competitors, and are often somewhat conservative.

StrangeDays · October 17, 2020 4:16PM

melgross said:

fred1 said:

Any idea why Apple doesn’t make known battery sizes? It seems like something people want (and deserve) to know.

Nobody “deserves” to know any of the specs. You can’t go by battery size to directly estimate battery life. That’s why Apple gives a much more useful set of battery life specs. By comparing them model to model, and year to year, you know what to expect. Battery size isn’t helpful. We also know that iPhones need a substantially smaller battery than comparable Android phones for the same battery life. That’s mainly due to the known inefficiency of Android, due to decisions Google made way back in the development, which they’re finding very difficult to alter now.

also look at reviews at reliable sites such as Arstechnica and Anandtech. They have comparative battery life charts. Additionally, they make mention of the fact that Apple’s battery life specs are more accurate than competitors, and are often somewhat conservative.

exactamundo. battery size is a factor but not the only variable in battery life per charge.

GeorgeBMac · October 17, 2020 5:21PM

I would like to know how 5G overall will affect battery life -- particularly in comparison to 4G.

-- Does simply being open to a 5G signal drain it? Is the phone searching for 3G, 4G and 5G always?

-- Does using a 5G signal drain it?

-- If so, do different types of 5G drain it at different rates?

-- How does Apple's management of 5G vs 4G affect it? Is 5G effectively 'turned off' until or unless its available or used?

pulseimages · October 17, 2020 5:41PM

AF_Hitt said:

gmgravytrain said:

A 2,227 mAh battery will likely only last a few hours of normal use. The mini is a nice size, but I could never deal with that small capacity battery. I guess it could be good for some people, but with an A14 Bionic, they'd want to use it a lot and the battery will just poop out halfway through the day. That's just crazy. I would only be satisfied with the iPhone 12 Pro Max simply because that is the largest capacity battery available.

Then you’re calling Apple liars with their battery claims. The 12 mini gets two hours more than the SE and two hours less than the standard 12 (and 11). Seems like a pretty good battery life considering the size of the device.

I question Apple’s battery claims with their iPhone’s especially the new SE. Apple claims 13 hours of video playback and 8 hours of video playback streaming but in the majority of the reviews I found for the phone it averaged 9 hours total for the day and a dismal 4 hours and 45 minutes when playing YouTube videos.

avon b7 · October 17, 2020 6:22PM

There is no good reason not to reveal the information.

It is a specification and is useful for comparative purposes even if the variables in play make it hard to draw definitive conclusions.

paul turner · October 17, 2020 6:51PM

I’m switching to android. Been a iphone user since inception and so tired of its interface. So many things about it bug me. Not least of which was apple deleted my entire music library a few tears ago and bricked my 2 yrs old max book pro when the keyboard broke and they quoted me $900 to replace it . Looking at getting the rog3.

iPhone 12 mini has 2,227 mAh battery, iPhone 12 has 2,815 mAh battery

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