Max Tech's iPad mini 8 vs iPhone Duo comparison favors the mini for drawing and sustained gaming, even though the Duo's pocketable inner display remains the reason to choose it. The benchmark results are the channel's own tests.

Where the mini makes its case

  • Pencil work. Max Tech prefers the mini's Apple Pencil Pro support, including magnetic storage and charging. The Duo uses Apple Pencil USB-C in this comparison, with a cable connection and no pressure sensitivity. The mini also lies flat on a desk instead of rocking on a camera bump.
  • Longer gaming sessions. In the channel's 20-minute graphics stress test, the mini's lowest loop is 37% ahead of the Duo's lowest loop. Max Tech attributes the difference to heat dissipation. That result makes a stronger case for the tablet than a brief CPU score does.
  • Speaker placement. The channel hears fuller, more balanced sound from the mini and finds its speaker arrangement harder to obstruct. During Call of Duty Mobile, Max Tech says the Duo's lower speaker is easy to cover and makes directional audio harder to follow.

Where the Duo answers back

  • Display motion. The Duo offers 120Hz ProMotion against the mini's 60Hz display in the video. Max Tech calls out the difference in scrolling and slow-motion footage. The mini's OLED panel doesn't remove that refresh-rate limit.
  • Always having the large screen. The Duo folds into a pocket. Max Tech accepts that as a meaningful advantage even while preferring a Pro iPhone plus a dedicated mini for separate tasks. A tablet comparison can't erase the convenience of carrying one device.
  • Cameras. The channel treats the Duo as the more capable photography device of these two, with rear cameras available for higher-quality self-framing. Its under-display camera is less convincing in the demonstration.

Game settings complicate the refresh-rate argument for iPhoners choosing between these devices: Max Tech's Call of Duty Mobile test lowers graphics quality when selecting the Duo's higher frame-rate mode, while the mini can use higher graphics settings at 60Hz. App layout support also remains uneven in the footage.

For my drawing-and-gaming priorities, the mini's Pencil support and sustained results carry more weight than the convenience of consolidation.