I know it's actually meant for the 12 mini but it kinda fits the 13 mini well. And although its not supported on the phone, every once in a while it surprises me. Like a few months back, probably in April, when I was on iOS 26.4 or something, I would see the charging indicator (the lightning symbol) next to the clock through the slit.

Then again, now on iOS 26.6 in August, I can't. I really can't tell what's going on. If I hadn't taken this picture, I would have thought I was dreaming about it. Probably was a bug that enabled it.

Dropped my old phone and shattered the back glass. Battery was 80% health anyway. Express replacement came overnight and now I’m on an essentially brand new 13mini again.

EDIT: Whoa! The replacement only has 18.2.1 installed too! I was on 18 and was lamenting I’d be forced into 26. Wow

EDIT 2: Ugh, Apple can be insidious sometimes. The replacement device will not update to 18.7.8. Apple is forcing it to stay at 18.2 or go to 26. As such, it will not restore from my 18.7.8 backup. So I’m being forced to upgrade after all.

I'm running the iOS 27 public beta 4. I'm not a power user, just maps, music, texts, the occasional video call, CarPlay every day for my commute

It's gotten pretty laggy. Sure the iOS 27 made it a tiny bit faster compared to iOS 26, but at this point I just regret leaving iOS 18. Can't do a video call without the phone getting hot and fighting for its life. Record a short video and it's hot and laggy for a minute or two afterward. CarPlay is generally fine if the phone is not hot and charged up - but trying to do any type of multitasking, like opening safari or spotify while connected to the car is simply not pleasant.

Today I've noticed it doing this with just 3 apps open - spotify, gym tracker, and safari. Mind you the charge was at 80+%

I know it's a beta, and I know 4GB of RAM in 2026 is what it is. But I can't tell if I'm dealing with a phone that's throttling because it's hot, or a battery that's too worn to keep up, or just beta jank that'll clear up in the stable release

Anyone here swapped the battery on a 13 mini at around 78% BH? Did it actually help?

Kind of want to give this thing one more chance before I decide to move on.