Tell HN: Get a dying iPhone 12 mini in 2026

Marketing that seems to have worked with you. I'm wondering if you even did any research at all.

Instead of using a garbage phone from Apple, go with better alternatives that are made to last, can be fixed, is more environmental safe, can be fixed etc.

A warning about the cases: Since Apple has discontinued manufacturer of the phone, they also stopped accessory manufacturing. The chinese have swooped in and they are producing very convincing fakes passed off as authentic. I recently purchased what I thought was a true authentic Apple Silicone case off eBay only to discover weak magsafe performance(the phone kept falling off my car mount).

I discovered to my shock that it was a fake. The packing was nearly identical to real OEM (purchased from Target) and it was only after looking at it with a magnifying glass I discovered packaging print quality issues compared to OEM.

The thing that initially revealed that it was a fake was magnet paper showing a clear difference in magnet design.

FAKE: https://i.imgur.com/9gVy3ks.png (sorry I slightly cropped this image to cover up blurry reflection but the full magnet is showing)

REAL: https://i.imgur.com/0m5AopW.png

The real is a stronger magnet and designed differently.

Also note: The fake case does the sae Apple "animation" on attachment that a real case does because they have likely cloned the NFC tag from the authentic case.

I'm holding onto my 13 Mini for dear life and have Applecare+ on it so I can get any hardware fixed when needed. This is me just really committing to this mini design cost be damned.

This way I get a new OEM battery every other year or so and I can thrash it as much as I want.

Screen replacements are even wonderful for me but I had to learn the hard way: Upon buying the phone, I got a belkin screen protector and it goes up to the edge of the screen but leaves a tiny gap. Well the phone fell on the ground and hit that tiny gap causing a microcrack in the corner of the screen where the protector wasn't protecting. :/

On replacing the screen, i'm like why bother with the screen protectors when a brand new calibrated OLED screen is only 29$ with my plan.

However, I couldn’t take the bad battery life. The 13 seemed worse than the 12, even though on paper it was supposed to be better. I ended up getting a new phone when the 16 came out. I had also been wanting a telephoto lens, so I got the triple camera system with the 16 Pro. I really wish I could get this in the package of a mini.

I tried to see the bad battery life as a positive, and that’s all well and good while at home, but becomes a real problem when leaving the house and needing your phone for things like trains and taxis to get around. Having to carry an extra battery just incase, so you can get home isn’t a feature. Though to be fair, on my last trip with the 16 Pro I also carried an extra battery with me, because the 16 Pro will randomly burn through 80% of my battery for seemingly no reason some days. I can’t trust it.

I have been using a iPhone mini 12 for 3 years now and love it, but I won't keep it simply because it's getting too old and underpowered.

Hint: eBay, with a price filter is your friend. The cheap ones are out there.

Recent model. Touch ID (last one?) and can't run Apple Intelligence. The latter was a deliberate choice.

(Please don't trample people on the way to buy one!)

Fits the old iphone 8 cases.