All iPhone 12 mini models have a haptic-touch capable 5.4″ (diagonal) “Super Retina XDR” display (2340×1080, 476 ppi) that occupies nearly the entire front of the device. It has three cameras. On the front — tucked in the “notch” — is a “TrueDepth” camera that in addition to supporting “Advanced Face ID” identification functionality, takes 12 megapixel photos, shoots 4K video, and has software support for Portrait mode, Portrait lighting, and more. The rear packs dual 12 megapixel, 4K video-capable Ultra Wide (f/2.4 aperture, 120-degree field of view) and Wide (f/1.6 aperture) cameras. Apple notes that the iPhone 12 mini provides “computational photography” features that improve low-light performance and reduce noise compared to earlier iPhone models.

The iPhone 12 mini uses a “aerospace-grade” aluminum case with flat sides and has a glass front and back. The front has a “Ceramic Shield” cover for improved durability and the back has an integrated “MagSafe” magnetic charging connection. It is splash, water, and dust-resistant to the IP68 standard (maximum depth of 6 meters up to 30 minutes). It originally was offered in five color options — white, black, blue, (pale) green, and (PRODUCT) RED — with a sixth color, purple, added on April 20, 2021.

Internally, the iPhone 12 mini is powered by a 64-bit 3.0 GHz “Apple A14 Bionic” processor with six cores — two performance cores and four high-efficiency cores — and a 16-core Neural Engine. It has 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB, 128 GB, or 256 GB of flash storage. It also supports 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 with 2×2 MIMO, 5G wireless, Bluetooth 5.0, Ultra Wideband “for spatial awareness,” NFC for Apple Pay, “Express Cards with power reserve” for compatible transit systems, and dual SIMs (one hardware nano SIM and one software-based eSIM).

Apple estimates that the iPhone 12 mini provides “up to” 50 hours of audio playback, 15 hours of video playback, and 10 hours of streamed video playback.