Apple iPhone SE (2022) vs iPhone 12 mini
55
out of 100
VS
58
out of 100
Here we compared two smartphones: the 4.7-inch Apple iPhone SE (2022) (with Apple A15 Bionic) that was released on March 8, 2022, against the Apple iPhone 12 mini, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 1 year and 5 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone SE (2022)
- Shows 9% longer battery life (17:41 vs 16:11 hours)
- Fingerprint scanner
- The phone is 1 year and 5 months newer
- 13% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2404 and 2130 points
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 mini
- Thinner bezels – 19.5% more screen real estate
- Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
- 46% higher pixel density (476 vs 326 PPI)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- OLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | IPS LCD | OLED |
| Size | 4.7 inches | 5.4 inches |
| Resolution | 750 x 1334 pixels | 1080 x 2340 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 16:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 326 ppi | 476 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 625 nits | 625 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, Dolby Vision | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Tempered glass | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 65.3% | 84.8% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.9% | - |
| Response time | 38 ms | - |
| Contrast | 1655:1 | - |
Screen space comparison
iPhone 12 mini
5.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 11.1 in2
iPhone SE (2022)
4.7″ (16:9 ratio) = 9.4 in2
~17% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 138.4 mm (5.45 inches) | 131.5 mm (5.18 inches) |
| Width | 67.3 mm (2.65 inches) | 64.2 mm (2.53 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 144 g (5.08 oz) | 135 g (4.76 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP67 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Red | White, Black, Blue, Green, Red |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-button | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Apple A15 Bionic | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Max clock | 3223 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 6 (2 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard - 2 cores at 3.23 GHz: Avalanche |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm - 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Apple Neural Engine | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Apple GPU | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 640 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 1338 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1712.6 GFLOPS | ~654.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 17777 | 16477 |
| Single-core score | 2404 | 2130 |
| Multi-core score | 6040 | 4912 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 396583 | 369310 |
| GPU | 363070 | 317860 |
| Memory | 162337 | 148720 |
| UX | 424045 | 461951 |
| Total score | 1346035 | 1306432 |
| Samples | [8 tests] | [9 tests] |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 75% | 75% |
| Graphics test | 11 FPS | 10 FPS |
| Section 1 | 16 FPS | 13 FPS |
| Section 2 | 11 FPS | 10 FPS |
| Section 3 | 7 FPS | 7 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2969 | 2634 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 70% | 67% |
| Graphics test | 14 FPS | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2387 | 2138 |
Recent User Tests
Apple iPhone SE (2022)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-18 (Bionic) | AnTuTu 11 | 1336740 |
| 📘 2026-06-19 (Bionic) | AnTuTu 11 | 1375075 |
| 📘 2026-06-14 (Bionic) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 2404 / 6040 |
| 📘 2026-06-14 (Bionic) | AnTuTu 11 | 1362289 |
| 📘 2026-03-13 (Mistral) | AnTuTu 11 | 1342610 |
Apple iPhone 12 mini
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-06-30 (Kirious) | AnTuTu 11 | 1251875 |
| 📘 2026-06-30 (Kirious) | AnTuTu 11 | 1251875 |
| 📘 2026-05-04 (Noorulain khan) | AnTuTu 11 | 1319503 |
| 📘 2026-03-26 (Khalil) | AnTuTu 11 | 1247945 |
| 📘 2026-02-04 -> Houramui | AnTuTu 11 | 1352611 |
Memory
| RAM size | 4 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 64 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | iOS 15.3 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) | iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) |
| OS size | 12 GB | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 2018 mAh | 2227 mAh |
| Max charge power | 20 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Bypass charging | - | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (61% in 30 min) | Yes (60% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:18 hr | 1:29 hr |
| Web browsing | 07:07 hr | 06:04 hr |
| Watching video | 10:31 hr | 10:15 hr |
| Gaming | 03:43 hr | 03:53 hr |
| Standby | 87 hr | 79 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | Quad LED | Quad LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | - | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | - | 26 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX372 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | - | 12 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | - | 13 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX503 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 1.4 micron |
| Stabilization | - | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 50 | 55 |
| Preview | 71 | 76 |
| Zoom | 29 | 57 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Apple iPhone SE (2022) from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 mini from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 7 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3088 x 2320 | 4290 x 2800 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | - | 23 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX514 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Autofocus | - | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 127 |
| Video | - | 140 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | - | No |
| USB version | 2 | - |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | - | 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Flagship |
| Announced | March 2022 | October 2020 |
| Release date | March 2022 | November 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $429 | $700 |
| Successor | - Apple iPhone 16e | - Apple iPhone 13 mini |
| SAR (head) | - | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | - | 0.99 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | - |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the display, camera, and design are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 12 mini. But if the performance, gaming, and battery life are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone SE (2022).
Cast your vote
Total votes: 1064