Why I Pre-Ordered the iPhone 13 mini

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I was going to wait until Friday to make my decision, but I couldn’t help myself.

Yesterday, I set up my pre-order for the iPhone 13 mini (nice work with the new pre-order system, by the way, Apple!).

This will be the smallest smartphone I’ve owned and used on a daily basis since the iPhone 5. And I really can’t wait to get my hands on it.

This might sound odd coming from someone who has recently expressed his disappointment with the iPhone’s muted development in recent times. But therein lies my point: by switching to the smallest iPhone available, I’m engineering a more interesting iPhone 13 for myself.

I have zero interest in the iPhone 13 Pro

I don’t care about the iPhone 13 Pro at all. It’s only marginally more impressive than the regular iPhone 13; the addition of ProMotion, an admittedly pretty Sierra Blue colour, and “a dramatically more powerful camera system” isn’t enough to make me part with at least £999.

I like my iPhone 12 Pro, but I don’t use any of the features that set it apart from the regular 12. In fact, I’ve completely forgotten what they are. Perhaps you could help me in the comments.

By comparison, the £679 iPhone 13 mini (now with 128GB as standard) is genuinely exciting.

There are three reasons I decided to take the plunge and shave nearly an inch from the screen size of my daily carry.

I’ve analysed my phone usage

As mentioned a moment ago, I don’t use my iPhone 12 Pro to its fullest – at all. In fact, when I bullet-point my phone usage, it’s fascinatingly underwhelming:

• text messaging (mainly via WhatsApp);
• listening to music and podcasts;
• checking email (but rarely replying to it);
• occasional web browsing;
• watching YouTube videos;
• taking occasional, incidental photos; and
• occasionally making phone calls.

I recommend undertaking this exercise yourself. Or maybe not; ignorance is bliss, after all.

I don’t touch any of the iPhone 12’s power with the above. Nor do I delve into its considerably impressive photographic and video skills. For me, it’s just a smartphone.

The only thing which concerns me slightly in terms of reducing the screen size so significantly is my YouTube viewing. But I have a solution for that, which I’ll get onto in a moment.

So, I categorically do not need the best iPhone going. But why have I decided to go with the little one?

I bottled it with the iPhone 12 mini

Last year, I unveiled my big plan to run the iPhone 12 Pro for six months before switching to the iPhone 12 mini for another six months.

That didn’t happen. I just didn’t feel the need to in the end, and reports of the iPhone 12 mini’s poor battery performance sealed the deal.

I don’t like bottling things, though. I’d much rather follow through on my promises. So, when I found myself deliberating a little too hard about whether to ‘go mini’ or not this time around, I had a word with myself and set up the pre-order.

There’s no turning back now.

I’ve also ordered the iPad mini

As I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions, I’m a big-screen kinda guy. I am, therefore, a little bit nervous about owning such a small smartphone.

Will it be too small?

Thankfully, there’s a solution for this, and it lies in the most exciting iPad release of this year – the iPad mini. I have one winging its way to me next Friday.

Combined, I’ve spent £1,158 on the iPhone 13 mini and the new iPad mini. That’s a smidgen more than I paid for my iPhone 12 Pro, but I’m getting two brilliant devices.

The idea I have is either the single best idea I’ve ever had in my life or will result in an utter car crash of daily frustration.

The iPhone 13 mini will be my daily driver as far as a phone is concerned. And I won’t alter my use of it to account for the smaller form factor – apart from YouTube consumption and extended sessions of web browsing. For those two tasks, I’ll turn to the iPad mini.

Yes, this means I’ll have two devices with me, but I’m also intending to use the iPad mini, complete with Apple Pencil, as my default notebook. So, it has no choice but to be with me at all times.

I’ve even ordered them both in the same colour – Starlight (answers on a postcard as to what that will actually look like in the flesh, please).

Will I enjoy the double-device lifestyle? Will it prove to be an absolute pain in the arse? I genuinely have no idea. But I can’t wait to find out.