What to buy for Christmas — Apple Edition
By: Sam Castle
Tags: Apple Watch, iPhone, Airpods, iPad, Apple

What to buy for Christmas — Apple Edition

Let’s kick things off with the high priced gifts, iPhones, iPads and watches.

iPhones

This one is easy, iPhone 12 mini.

iPhone 11, iPhone 12 mini and iPhone SE. | Image from Apple.

It has the newest design, OLED display, A14 SoC and superb cameras. The SE and iPhone 11 are great devices in their own right but the mini will last years and never look dated compare to the other two.

It’s just a fantastic device in an era of big fat phones.

iPhone 12 mini starts at $699/£699 while the SE is $399/£399 and the 11 is $599/£599, and I get it, the prices are quite different but we aren’t in $1000+ territory just yet.

Compare to the iPhone 11, for $100 more you get a superior device in every way except for a smaller display with the 12 mini being 5.4" OLED and the 11 being 6.1" LCD.

iPhone 12 mini is black, white, red, green and blue. | Image from Apple

Compared to the iPhone SE however, thats a different story, these are very different and the price will show that. The SE is $300 cheaper that the 12 mini but the design and specs show that, with the 12 mini have a larger OLED display in a smaller form factor and face ID thanks to its modern new design while the SE has a 2015 design, fat juicy bezels and a 4.7" LCD display with touch ID.

The choice is easy but the wallet might make that choice for you, the 12 mini is the best but at a high price while the SE is great for it’s price but very dated in design.

iPads

This one is a little tricky, iPad Air and iPad are the lower end models and honestly the only ones worth buying now.

iPad Air and iPad 8th Gen. | Image from Apple.

You can’t go wrong with either of these but I believe the iPad Air is best of the two, once again it comes down to design and specs for me and I think the Air will last for years due to having the newest chip and design while the iPad 8th Gen has a very dated design and older chip.

iPad Air starts at $499/£499 and the iPad 8th Gen starts at $329/£329 and both feature pencil support but the air supports the Pencil 2 and can be attached to the side of the iPad Air.

For $170 more you’ll be getting a better design, chip, display and camera if you use it.

So I have to go with the Air for most but the 8th Gen is a great gift for an elderly relative or child.

iPad Air comes in silver, space grey, blue, green and rose gold.

iPad 8th Gen comes in silver, space gray and gold.

Watches

The Apple watch SE is a fantastic watch for its price, at $279/£269 it comes in at $120 cheaper than the Series 6 and only loses out on always on display, blood oxygen and ECG apps which many won’t ever use.

Apple Watch SE. | Image from Apple.

It’s basically an updated Series 4 sport model at a good price and comes in space grey, silver and gold.

I know the Series 3 is still available at $199/£199 but its very dated now and can’t imagine it’ll last more than another year or two of updates while the SE should give you at least 3 to 4 years of updates and comes with a newer design.

But then again the Series 3 might be suited for your kids in the short term.

Now let’s discuss the non wallet busting products.

Beats Flex

The Beats Flex are Apple’s latest Bluetooth earbuds, and bring some of the great features of its AirPods to headphones costing just a third of the price.

Beats Flex in black, smoke grey, flame blue and citrus yellow. | Image from Apple.

We are in a world of true wireless Bluetooth earbuds now the headphone jack is dying out, they have wires connecting the earbuds to each other but have the W1 chip to connect to the iPhone instantly like AirPods.

They come with USB-C charging which is great unlike AirPods with the lightning port, a 10-minute quick charge when the battery is low provides about 90 minutes of playback.

The new Beats cost $49/£49 and replace the £129 Beats X as the cheapest wireless earbuds from Apple, sitting below Apple’s £129 AirPods.

Everyone included in the box.

By far the best value at the moment from Apple, I would advise against AirPods at the moment because Gen 3 is due next spring and rumoured to feature a whole new design similar to the current $230 AirPods Pro.

And no I wouldn’t recommend the AirPods Max at $549/£549 because its ridiculous and I’m sure they won’t be worth the price.

Anything else?

Chargers

Ok, so your new iPhone doesn’t come with a plug. Let’s take a look at some decent options.

Anker Nano 20W brick is a great product and slightly cheaper than the official Apple one, it’s also smaller and easier to carry around.

Anker Nano 20W charger.

You can find it on Amazon here or from Anker direct in the US, EU and UK.

Wireless charging is also another great way to charge your new iPhone and this one is a bit tricky because the iPhone 12 series charge at 7.5W for standard Qi wireless charging and 15W for MagSafe charging which is Apples new wireless charger at $39/£39 but still requires a 20W charging brick sold separately.

I use a Belkin wireless charging pad from Amazon and have never had any issues but I also have a MagSafe charger and that works well but the MagSafe is a lot more when you add the brick cost, MagSafe does charge faster but again its at a cost.

MagSafe Charger. | Image from Apple.

MagSafe Charger is available here for $39 and you can pair it with the above Anker Nano 20W or Apples official $20/£20 brick.

Belkin Boost Up 15W Wireless charger is available here for £35 with brick and £29 without.(Remember this will only charge the iPhone at 7.5W, MagSafe charges at 15W)

Belkin Boost Up 15W Wireless Charger.

So my Apple Christmas picks are…

iPhone 12 mini, iPad Air, Apple Watch SE, Beats Flex and MagSafe Charger.

I hope this has helped in anyway or given you some ideas at least, Happy Holidays!