iPhone 17e vs iPhone 13 Mini: Is now the time to upgrade?

Pricing and Availability

The iPhone 17e will be available to pre-order from tomorrow (March 4th), with a starting price of £599/$599. It will then launch officially from March 11th. 

Unsurprisingly given its age, the iPhone 13 Mini is no longer available to buy directly from Apple. However, it is possible to nab a renewed handset from third-party retailers. For example, at the time of writing, you could order a renewed iPhone 13 Mini for around £200 on Amazon – making it an appealing choice for Apple enthusiasts looking for a budget.

iPhone 17e has a larger display with Ceramic Shield 2

There are many differences between the iPhone 17e and iPhone 13 Mini, however the most obvious is that the former sports a much larger display. As its name suggests, the iPhone 13 Mini is equipped with a teeny 5.4-inch panel whereas the iPhone 17e’s is 6.1-inches. 

Whether you prefer the dinky 5.4-inch iPhone 13 Mini will entirely depend on your personal preference and uses. If you plan on using your smartphone for gaming or streaming, then the iPhone 17e offers more screen real estate for you to play with. On the other hand, if you want a more pocketable phone that’s easy to use one-handed, then the iPhone 13 Mini remains a solid option.

Otherwise, both the iPhone 17e and iPhone 13 Mini are fitted with a Super Retina XDR display and, unfortunately, still only offer up to 60Hz refresh rate. Finally, while the iPhone 13 Mini is fitted with Apple’s Ceramic Shield coating, the iPhone 17e benefits from Ceramic Shield 2 which is promised to offer up to three times the durability than its predecessor.

iPhone 17e features the Action Button

The iPhone 13 Mini is equipped with a ringer switch, which allows users to quickly put their phone onto silent mode. Instead, the iPhone 17e has rid itself of the ringer switch and sports the customisable Action Button, which was first introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.

Essentially, although by default the Action Button works as a direct replacement for the ringer switch, it can be customised to act as a convenient shortcut to various functions too. 

iPhone 17e includes Apple Intelligence, thanks to its A19 chip

Design and display aside, another of the biggest differences between the iPhone 17e and iPhone 13 Mini is with their respective chips. 

The iPhone 13 Mini is fitted with Apple’s A15 Bionic chip, which powered the entire iPhone 13 series, iPhone SE (3rd-Gen) and iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. In comparison, the iPhone 17e runs on Apple’s A19 chip, which can be found in the iPhone 17 too. 

We should disclaim that although the iPhone 17e and iPhone 17 do technically run on the same chip, the iPhone 17’s iteration has one extra GPU compared to the iPhone 17e. We explain more in iPhone 17e vs iPhone 17.

As we haven’t reviewed the iPhone 17e yet, we can’t confirm how it performs directly compared to the iPhone 13 Mini. However, we can expect the iPhone 17e to offer an overall faster performance and to handle multi-tasking between apps better than the iPhone 13 Mini – although perhaps not by as much as you’d expect from a four-year difference between chips. In fact, in Apple’s official press release, it promises that the iPhone 17e’s six-core CPU is “up to two times faster than iPhone 11”, which makes us think there’s perhaps not as big of a difference between it and the iPhone 13 Mini.

Of course, this is speculation on our part, so we’ll have to wait until we review the handset ourselves.

However, thanks to the A19 chip, the iPhone 17e supports the entire Apple Intelligence toolkit whereas the iPhone 13 Mini simply doesn’t. This means you can play around with the likes of Clean Up in Photos, Writing Tools and Image Playground too. 

iPhone 13 mini still uses a Lightning port

Since the introduction of USB-C with the iPhone 15, Apple has slowly but surely managed to phase out its outdated Lightning port. This was a welcome update as it means you can utilise one of the many USB-C cables that come equipped with other gadgets such as the best headphones.

However, unfortunately the iPhone 13 Mini still features the Lightning port. While this wouldn’t have been an issue if you were cemented in Apple’s ecosystem back in 2021, now that Apple has introduced the USB-C port to its iPads, MacBooks and AirPods, the use of Lightning is pretty frustrating.

iPhone 17e has a single 48MP Fusion rear lens

Although it isn’t quite one of the best camera phones, we enjoyed the dual 12MP rear camera set-up of the iPhone 13 Mini. Sure, it may not have a dedicated telephoto lens but its main camera effortlessly captures detailed images with a lovely, natural finish that iPhones are famed for. This is supported by the ultrawide lens, which offers an extra bit of versatility too. 

Instead, the iPhone 17e is fitted with a single 48MP Fusion lens, which is the same as the iPhone 16e. Unlike the iPhone 13 Mini, the 17e doesn’t have an ultrawide but can get up to 2x closer with the in-sensor zoom. 

Essentially, if you’re a keen photographer and enjoy playing around with focal lengths and different lenses, then you should visit our best camera phones list instead. Not only that, but if you do still own the iPhone 13 Mini, then you might feel somewhat limited by the iPhone 17e’s photography.

Early Verdict

Deciding between the iPhone 17e and iPhone 13 Mini isn’t as easy a task as you might think. Although the iPhone 17e has a newer chip, supports Apple Intelligence and sports many updates that help the handset feel more modern, the iPhone 13 Mini doesn’t feel that far behind. In fact, judging by camera hardware alone, although its resolution is less, the iPhone 13 Mini boasts a much more versatile set-up. Having said that, the iPhone 13 Mini’s Lightning port, older Ceramic Shield coating and chip means it’s definitely ageing. 

We’ll be sure to update this versus once we reviewed the iPhone 17e.