Case round-up for the Apple iPhone 13 mini

The iPhone 13 mini is a stunning smartphone, unusual because of its diminutive size yet without compromising any of the internals. But it's still the best part of £700 and needs protecting.

As usual for my case roundups, I'll cover a variety of styles, with most samples supplied by MobileFun, kind people that they are. See their complete range of iPhone 13 mini cases and covers.

But on with the individual cases, each link goes to the relevant product page, of course.

Spigen Rugged Armor, £20

Spigen cases are rarely the cheapest, but they do offer utterly premium TPU and perfect fit. On the tiny iPhone 13 mini, this feels soooo snug.

So many textures too. The main body/back matt finish is just lovely, but it gets better with the ultra-ribbed, grippy sides. The two texture panels on the back look cool, but their function is mainly cosmetic.

There's ample face drop protection around the front edges of the case, plus a typical 'air gap' corner design to handle corner drops.

All very solid, boringly stylish, and typical Spigen. It's hard to fault, though this particular case doesn't have a MagSafe ring (for locating the iPhone easily on an Apple MagSafe charger), which has to dock it a point at the end of 2021. (Spigen do a MagSafe version, though I didn't have the opportunity to review it.)

Score: 9/10

Olixar Soft Silicone, £8 

This is Olixar's attempt to clone an official Apple design, but I wasn't happy with the design - it didn't feel tight enough on the phone. Investigating, it turns out that the speaker/sensor/port cutouts on the bottom edge weaken the material too much (whereas on larger phones there's more of it). And it takes almost no effort at all to pull back that bottom rubber.

The practical result of this is that the bottom edge doesn't hold the iPhone 13 mini strongly enough and, when in the hand, the cased phone feels nowhere near as secure as when in the Spigen case above (or alternatives below).

Away from the fit issue, the silicone is nice enough, though it attracts dust very easily (see the hair that crept into my photo, plus visible dust, and this is only 2 minutes after breaking the case out of its packet!)

There's decent face drop protection all round, though with the fit issue, I'd say there was a good chance that the iPhone would leave case on impact. Sadly.

Score: 6/10

Olixar MagSafe clear, £8

Wait. What? How can this be only £8? Fully MagSafe-compatible, really solid, protective clear TPU, this Olixar case is stunning value. It looks great with the gloss TPU... though obviously the necessary white ring of magnets stand out somewhat, though circling the Apple logo at least looks symmetrical.

The fit and finish is top notch too, with the cased iPhone feeling very solid.

There are air pockets on the corners to help with corner drops, which is great, plus enough clearance on the front to give basic protection from a face drop. Not massive protection all round (though see the case below), but enough for every day life for most people.

Score: 9/10

Ghostek Covert 6, £20

Now, take that Olixar design above, frost up the TPU (to not show scratches and marks), add ridges on the sides for grip, beef up the corners with impact-absorbing rubber, and bang, you have this rather superb Ghostek design.

True, this looks less 'boardroom' and more 'surviving the rough and tumble of an active life'. But that's OK with me. To have maximum protection, for drops of every kind, plus MagSafe compatibility, is a huge win.

The rubber inserts in the corners are deliberately styled red, to make the point to users that the inserts are there, and to emphasise that this is a Ghostek case - the company loves its red accents!

The styling is the only possible way to fault this case - so that's subjective. Full marks, and at a sensible price.

Score: 10/10

Olixar Fitness Armband, £7

Another fabulous value accessory from Olixar - having been testing this, feeling the materials (mainly neoprene and velcro), and loving all the little touches, I can't believe the price. the idea, as shown below, is that you strap this to your upper arm and can have your (separately cased) smartphone securely with you while running:

The strapping system, with velcro, works superbly. The top end of the phone pouch is semi-open , for easy access should you need to slide the phone out or run a cable, though for most operations, the thin clear plastic allows capacitive finger access to the iPhone's touchscreen, for example to change music application.

There are several lovely touches, such as the door key holder (the key goes in further and is kept secure by the tight strap, but I ejected the key a little here so that you can see what's happening!)

Then there's a velcro-ed neoprene flap to retain a headphone cable, if you haven't gone Bluetooth yet.

I'd suggest running with Bluetooth headphones, of course, as there's then no wire trying to drag the headphones from your ears. But it's nice to have the option.

Overall, this is amazing value and I can't see why anyone would pay more for a smartphone armband. Top notch - at least once you work out which way up it goes (my first attempt had it the 'wrong' way up and my phone threatened to try and fall out!)

Score: 10/10