Apple iPhone 13 mini Selfie review: Compact selfie shooter (2024)

This device has been retested in the latest version of our protocol. Overall, sub-scores and attributes are up to date. For detailed information, check the What’s New article

The iPhone 13 mini is the smallest model in the iPhone 13 series and shares most specs, including front and rear camera setups, with the slightly larger iPhone 13. Images can be viewed on a 5.4-inch 5.4 Super Retina XDR display and Apple’s mobile OS is powered by its in-house A15 chipset. Images and video can be saved to up to 512GB of built-in storage.

The front camera hardware for selfie capture is the same across all iPhone 13 models, featuring a 12 MP sensor coupled to a f/2.2-aperture lens with a 23mm equivalent focal length. Let’s see how it does in our DXOMARK Selfie test.

Key front camera specifications:

12 MP 1/3.6″ sensor, 23 mm equivalent f/2.2-aperture lens
3D sensor
Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field (1080p at 30 fps)
HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 4K at 60 fps; 4K video recording at 24/ 25/ 30/ 60 fps; 1080p HD video recording at 25 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps

About DXOMARK Camera tests: For scoring and analysis in our smartphone camera reviews, DXOMARK engineers capture and evaluate over 3000 test images and more than 2.5 hours of video both in controlled lab environments and in natural indoor and outdoor scenes, using the camera’s default settings. This article is designed to highlight the most important results of our testing. For more information about the DXOMARK Camera test protocol, click here.More details on how we score smartphone cameras are available here.

Test summary

Scoring

Sub-scores and attributes included in the calculations of the global score.

Apple iPhone 13 mini

134

selfie

127
Photo

Exposure

Apple iPhone 15 Pro

Best: Apple iPhone 15 Pro (97)

Color

106

Google Pixel 8 Pro

Best: Google Pixel 8 Pro (106)

Focus

105

Honor Magic6 Pro

Best: Honor Magic6 Pro (105)

Texture

Asus ZenFone 7 Pro

Best: Asus ZenFone 7 Pro (79)

Noise

Huawei Mate 50 Pro

Best: Huawei Mate 50 Pro (94)

Artifacts

Apple iPhone 15 Pro

Best: Apple iPhone 15 Pro (91)

Flash

Huawei Mate 50 Pro

Best: Huawei Mate 50 Pro (93)

Bokeh

Honor Magic6 Pro

Best: Honor Magic6 Pro (80)

143
Video

Exposure

Apple iPhone 15 Pro

Best: Apple iPhone 15 Pro (87)

Color

Apple iPhone 15 Pro

Best: Apple iPhone 15 Pro (90)

Focus

Huawei Mate 40 Pro

Best: Huawei Mate 40 Pro (92)

Texture

Asus ZenFone 6

Best: Asus ZenFone 6 (97)

Noise

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Best: Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra (83)

Artifacts

Apple iPhone 12 mini

Best: Apple iPhone 12 mini (92)

Stabilization

Apple iPhone 15 Pro

Best: Apple iPhone 15 Pro (82)

Please be aware that beyond this point, we have not modified the initial test results. While data and products remain fully comparable, you might encounter mentions and references to the previous scores.

Position in Global Ranking

25^th

Pros

Accurate target exposure on face
Nice color and skin tones
Good detail in indoor and outdoor shots
Quite accurate depth estimation in bokeh mode
Wide dynamic range and accurate target exposure in video
Accurate white balance in video
Wide focus range in video means all subjects are in focus

Cons

Luminance noise
Occasional white balance casts
Clipping in challenging backlit scenes
Fixed focus means subjects further away from the camera are out of focus
High noise levels in video, especially in low light
Residual motion in walking videos
Loss of detail in low light video

With all iPhone 13 series devices sharing the same front camera specs and processor, it would be fair to assume the Apple iPhone 13 mini Selfie results are very close to those of the iPhone 13 Pro. We have confirmed this by putting the Apple iPhone 13 mini through the complete DXOMARK Selfie test protocol.

Apple iPhone 13 mini, low light

Apple iPhone 13 mini, crop: stronger noise

Apple iPhone 13 Pro, low light

Apple iPhone 13 Pro, lower noise levels

The iPhone 13 mini achieves an overall Selfie score of 99, a Photo score of 101 and a Video score of 95. While the overall and Video scores are identical to the 13 Pro the Photo score is one point lower, which is mainly due to a slightly lower score for noise and flash shooting. The iPhone uses its display to illuminate the subject in flash mode and the mini’s smaller display is slightly inferior to the 13 Pro’s screen in that respect.

Given the pretty much identical results, we are posting only this short article for the Apple iPhone 13 mini. For the full set of of sample images and measurements as well as a complete analysis, please click on the link below and read the full review of the Apple iPhone 13 Pro.

Go to the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Selfie review

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Apple iPhone 13 mini Selfie review: Compact selfie shooter (2024)

Test summary

Pros

Cons

References