iPhone 13 mini vs Xiaomi 12 Pro: After using for a month, THIS is the better one

iPhone 13 mini vs Xiaomi 12 Pro: We used them, we lived with them, now we pick our winner. Check it out.

iPhone 13 mini vs Xiaomi 12 Pro: We choose our favourite between these two premium smartphones. (HT Tech)

iPhone 13 mini OR Xiaomi 12 Pro? If you have less than Rs. 70,000 to spend on a new smartphone, chances are that you could be considering these two in your list of the top ones. The Xiaomi 12 Pro is the newest of the lot, packing in all the high-end stuff you can expect from an Android flagship in 2022. That means high-resolution rear cameras, a high-res AMOLED display, the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, and a very fast charging solution. On paper, the Xiaomi 12 Pro seems like all the phone you could ever need.

But there comes the iPhone 13 Mini — Apple's entry-level model for its flagship iPhone 13 range. The iPhone 13 Mini is essentially an iPhone 13 but in a smaller size — this means you get the same reliable iPhone 13 experience in a more pocketable form. The iPhone 13 Mini has been around for over half a year and hasn't seen healthy sales figures. With rumours suggesting its discontinuation after iPhone 14 launch, the iPhone 13 Mini is the last one of its kind. And make no mistake, it is an impressive phone by all means.

So, which one would you pick? The feature packed Xiaomi or the ergonomic iPhone?

iPhone 13 mini vs Xiaomi 12 Pro

iPhone 13 Mini now starts at a price of Rs. 64,999 for its base 128GB variant.  (Amritanshu Mukherjee / HT Tech)

iPhone 13 Mini now starts at a price of Rs. 64,999 for its base 128GB variant.  (Amritanshu Mukherjee / HT Tech)

Design & Build

Both phones are equally well built and have extremely attractive designs. The iPhone 13 Mini has its bold flat sided design that looks iconic and stands out from the crowd. The Xiaomi 12 Pro has curved edges and a more commercial design. The Xiaomi is much heavier though and not an easy to handle single-handedly. The iPhone 13 Mini is lightweight but it has the ugly display notch on it. Personal preferences vary and we like both of them equally.

Display

The iPhone 13 Mini has a great 5.4-inch OLED display that also supports Dolby Vision. It is no match though for the Xiaomi's 6.7-inch Quad HD+ Curved AMOLED display with variable refresh rate of 1Hz-120Hz. If you love to watch movies or web shows and see no compromise with the display, pick up the Xiaomi 12 Pro. It has the best display in the segment.

Performance

Both of them are the fastest in their ecosystems. The Xiaomi 12 Pro uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip that is blistering fast and can handle almost anything you throw at it. However, it heats up quickly under heavy tasks and gaming, something which the iPhone 13 Mini doesn't do, With iOS 15 onboard, the iPhone 13 Mini keeps a cool head and runs the same apps and games at the best ways possible without compromising in performance.

OS

Xiaomi 12 Pro runs its MIUI 13 experience with Android 12, which is a highly customisable Android skin well optimised for daily tasks. It has some pre-loaded bloatware but the overall experience is among the best you can have on the Android side. iPhone 13 Mini runs iOS 15 in its latest iOS 15.5 avatar right now, and offers a relatively stable user experience. You can customise much but iOS offers a neat way to use your smartphone daily.

Moreover, the Xiaomi 12 Pro will get Android OS updates and four years of security updates. The iPhone 13 Mini trumps it with at least six years of expected iOS updates.

Audio

Xiaomi 12 Pro 5G has three 50MP cameras on its back (Amritanshu / HT Tech)

Xiaomi 12 Pro 5G has three 50MP cameras on its back (Amritanshu / HT Tech)

While both have stereo speaker setup, the Xiaomi 12 Pro wins here by a massive margin. Its dedicated dual speaker setup produces better quality output and is louder as well. The iPhone 13 Mini sounds tinny in comparison and isn't as loud.

Cameras

Despite the triple camera setup on the Xiaomi 12 Pro, we found the iPhone 13 Mini's dual rear camera system doing a much better job at still photography as well as videography. The iPhone 13 Mini tends to lean towards natural looking photos with immense levels of details and good colour reproduction. The Xiaomi 12 Pro's cameras aren't bad per se but both its still photography and videography capabilities are a step behind the iPhone's. Note that the Xiaomi 12 Pro offers a 50MP 2x zoom camera for portraits, which comes in handy under good lighting.

Battery

We never thought we would say this but the iPhone 13 Mini with its tiny battery actually beats the Xiaomi 12 Pro on a busy weekday. The iPhone's iOS software is extremely well optimised and its FHD+ OLED display with 60Hz refresh rate can efficiently sip battery. The Xiaomi 12 Pro drains battery a lot and in its QuadHD+ 120Hz mode, it can barely last a single day.

Charging

While the Xiaomi loses out on the battery, it wins in the charging speeds. Its 120W charging solution can do a 0-100 percent charge practically in 30 minutes (if it heats up in the Boost mode, the speeds slows down). The iPhone 13 Mini takes close to 1.5 hours with Apple's 20W USB-c charger. Xiaomi also offers a faster 50W wireless charging solution while Apple offers its 12W MagSafe wireless charging solution. Xiaomi also offers the charger in the box, unlike Apple.

Price

The Xiaomi 12 Pro starts at Rs. 62,999 for the base variant with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, whereas the iPhone 13 Mini 128GB variant is currently available at a starting price of Rs. 64,999. The Xiaomi 12 Pro definitely has a slight price advantage.

Conclusion

Honestly, this is a tough comparison, considering both of these are equally good and bad. Hence, we leave it upon your personal preference to decide which one suits you better. If you love customising your phone to the heart's content, and seek modern features like a high-res high refresh rate display, fast wired and wireless charging, you can consider the Xiaomi 12 Pro. You are certainly going to love it.

However, the iPhone 13 Mini is overall the better pick of the two, especially with its reliable battery life, stable software experience, much better cameras, and a handy form factor.